If you’ve been paying attention over the last month, then you probably already know about Draco Face-Off! This Quick-Play Spell Card in Breakers of Shadow pits a Dracoslayer against a Dracoverlord, allowing one of them to emerge victorious on your field, while the other is sent off to the Extra Deck.

When you resolve Draco Face-Off, you first reveal one “Dracoslayer” Pendulum Monster and one “Dracoverlord” Pendulum Monster from your Deck. Then, your opponent chooses one of them at random. That monster is the victor in the face-off. It gets to stick around, either by being placed in one of your Pendulum Zones, or by getting Special Summoned to the field. You get to decide. The monster that was not chosen gets sent face-up to the Extra Deck, where you can Pendulum Summon it later on.

Right now, there are only 2 Dracoslayer Pendulum Monsters and there’s only a single Dracoverlord Pendulum Monster that you can include in your Main Deck. That limits the choice of monsters to reveal. Fortunately, all three of those monsters are powerful, so you’ll rarely be disappointed when using Draco Face-Off.

Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord is the only Dracoverlord monster. That means you’ll always have to reveal it and you’ll always have a 50% chance of selecting it when using Draco Face-Off. If chosen, Vector Pendulum has a lot to offer.

First off, its Pendulum Scale of 3 will enable a wide range of Pendulum Summons while your other Pendulum Zone is occupied by a higher Scale.

Secondly, its Pendulum Effect will negate the effects of all cards in your opponent’s Pendulum Zones. This includes the Pendulum Effects of popular cards like Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer; Dragonpulse Magician; and Dragonpit Magician.

Finally, Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord is a Level 4 monster with 1850 ATK. If you Special Summon it with Draco Face-Off, you can use it to finish off your opponent, interfere with an opponent’s direct attack, or set up a Synchro Summon or Xyz Summon.

When choosing which “Dracoslayer” Pendulum Monster to reveal from your Deck, you’ll typically have two choices: Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer or Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer.

Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer is a Level 4 Tuner with a Pendulum Scale of 5. It was Limited on the Adjusted List, so make sure to keep that in mind if you’re going to a big tournament or if your local game store uses the Adjusted List.

In the Pendulum Zone, its effect allows you to destroy whichever card is in your other Pendulum Zone once per turn, and add a copy of that card from your Deck to your hand. Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer is a powerful card to select with Draco Face-Off for a variety of reasons.

First, if it’s selected and placed in your Pendulum Zone, you can use its effect to clear out your other Pendulum Zone and place down the Pendulum Scale that you want there. Previously it was used with Performage Plushfire (Forbidden on the Adjusted List) to get a Special Summon and another Plushfire to your hand, but nowadays it’s used more with Guiding Ariadne which will get you a Counter Trap from your Deck, and another Ariadne so you can play the Counter Trap for free!

Second, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer is a Level 4 Tuner. Even though it can only be used to Summon “Dracoslayer” monsters from the Extra Deck, Special Summoning it to the field with Draco Face-Off will quickly enable you to Summon Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer; Majester Paladin, the Ascending Dracoslayer; and Dinoster Powerful, the Mighty Dracoslayer. If you reveal Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer with Draco Face-Off but it isn’t randomly chosen, you can later Pendulum Summon it from the Extra Deck to Special Summon these powerful monsters.

Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer is a Level 4 monster with a Pendulum Scale of 3. Once while Master Pendulum is face-up in your Pendulum Zone, its effect lets you destroy 1 card in any Pendulum Zone. There are lots of advantages to revealing and then choosing Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer with Draco Face-Off.

First off, if you reveal Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer along with Vector Pendulum, the Dracoverlord, you’ll guarantee yourself a monster with Pendulum Scale of 3 to place in your Pendulum Zone, regardless of which one gets randomly chosen, since they both have a Pendulum Scale of 3.

Secondly, if you choose to reveal those 2 monsters, you’ll guarantee yourself an answer to any problematic card in an opponent’s Pendulum Zone. That’s because Master Pendulum can destroy one of them, and Vector Pendulum negates the cards in your opponent’s Pendulum Zones.

Finally, Master Pendulum, the Dracoslayer is a Level 4 monster with 1950 ATK. That makes it a worthy monster to Special Summon to the field to finish off an opponent or set up a powerful Synchro Summon or Xyz Summon.

Draco Face-Off is a huge part of Pendulum Summoning strategies right now, and it’s only going to get better as more Dracoslayers and Dracoverlords are released! If you missed it the first time around, you can get Draco Face-Off again in Breakers of Shadow Special Edition, which comes out on February 26^th!