We’ve come to the end of our 2014 Mega-Tin rewind, and we’re closing things out with the defining Xyz Monster from the latter half of 2013: Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy’s Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack! Dracossack does a little bit of everything for a lot of different Decks, packing 3 solid abilities into a 2600 ATK Rank 7 body. Just two, or even 1 of the three effects would be pretty good, but with all 3 on one card that’s Summoned using any 2 Level 7 monsters, Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack is a force to be reckoned with!

As the marquee monster of the Mecha Phantom Beast theme, it’s no surprise that Dracossack’s abilities all revolve around Tokens, but the thing that makes Dracossack so good in so many Decks it that it has the ability to produce multiple Tokens on its own without any other Mecha Phantom Beast cards. By detaching an Xyz Material, Dracossack Summons 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens, which bring its other two abilities into play.

First and foremost, as long as there’s a Token on the field, Dracossack cannot be destroyed. Not by battle, not by card effects. So as long as you can keep Tokens on the field, Dracossack is a nearly impenetrable wall between your opponent’s cards and your own Life Points. By Summoning it in Defense Position, you can even keep it safe from the now ubiquitous Number 101: Silent Honor ARK, though Castel the Skyblaster Muskateer can still send it back to the Extra Deck. Cards that wipe the field like Dark Hole and Evilswarm Exciton Knight won’t work either because Dracossack will be indestructible at the moment they resolve. Those cards don’t get to destroy all the Tokens and then go back in time to also destroy Dracossack – as long as there’s at least 1 Token at the time they resolve, your Dracossack is safe.

With 2 Xyz Materials, Dracossack can Summon up to 4 Tokens total across 2 turns, and those Tokens can be used to fuel Dracossack’s final ability: You can Tribute 1 “Mecha Phantom Beast” each turn to target and destroy 1 card on the field. You don’t need to detach any Xyz Materials to do this, so in practice you’ll usually get 2 to 3 uses of the ability if your opponent doesn’t have a way to get rid of Dracossack. One out of every 2 Tokens produced by Dracossack can be Tributed right away to destroy something, and after you’re out of Tokens, Dracossack itself can be Tributed as well!

In fact, Tributing Dracossack immediately after Summoning Tokens became a popular maneuver when Dragon Rulers ruled the roost, destroying a card on the field and putting a WIND monster into your Graveyard while simultaneously defending your Life Points and preventing your opponent from stealing away your Dracossack with Number 11: Big Eye. Even after the popularity of Dragon Rulers fell off, Dracossack still made a huge impact in Mermails, using Mermail Abyssteus and Mermail Abyssmegalo as Xyz Materials, and continued to see a lot of play throughout this summer in Sylvan Decks as well with Sylvan Sagequoia and Sylvan Princessprout.

Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack sets the bar very high for what a true Extra Deck superstar can be, and you can get another shot at it in the Mega Packs in the 2014 Mega-Tins!