Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon is Yuto’s ace monster from Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, but what’s an ace monster without an upgraded form that’s even cooler?  Complete with gorgeous stained glass wings, Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon is the upgrade that will be the swan song for your enemies! 

Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF – a familiar pairing of stats – and normally requires 3 Level 5 monsters for its Xyz Summon. What you really want to do, however, is use the newest Rank-Up-Magic Spell Card to upgrade Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon because you can’t use Requiem’s effects without it! Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon gets two incredible abilities if it has Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon as an Xyz Material: First, once per turn, you can detach an Xyz Material to have Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon steal all of an enemy monster’s ATK.  The second effect allows Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon to detach an Xyz Material to negate a monster’s activated effect and destroy it, then you can Special Summon any Xyz Monster from your Graveyard!

Both of these effects are really strong for obvious reasons: The first effect lets you beat any monster in battle no matter how strong it is and deal an absurd amount of damage in the process, and the second effect throws a wrench in the works for your opponent and fields another huge monster for you.  In a Phantom Knights Deck, this will probably be either The Phantom Knights of Break Sword or Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Neither will be able to use its abilities, but the extra on-field ATK and possibility of Summoning another Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon on top of negating your opponent’s monster effect make them very attractive.

It’s easy to see how strong Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon is, but Summoning it can be a little tricky since you need to use a Rank-Up-Magic Spell on Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon to use Requiem’s effects. Taking a look at all of the Rank-Up-Magic spells in the card database, you’ll find of the 14 cards that currently have “Rank-Up-Magic” in their name, all of them either work exclusively with “Number C” monsters, “CXyz” monsters, Raidraptors, or skip a Rank, making them incompatible with Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon.  Fortunately, Invasion: Vengeance comes with exactly the sort of card we’re looking for!

The Phantom Knights’ Rank-Up-Magic Launch is a Quick-Play Spell that you activate in either player’s Main Phase, targeting DARK Xyz Monster with no Xyz Materials.  You Rank-Up the target into a DARK Xyz Monster with a Rank 1 higher than the target and use the target as an Xyz Material. As a bonus, The Phantom Knights’ Rank-Up-Magic Launch also attaches itself to the monster you Summon so you can get two activations out of your new monster’s effects! If The Phantom Knights’ Rank-Up-Magic Launch is in your Graveyard during your Main Phase, you can banish it to attach a “The Phantom Knights” monster from your hand to a DARK Xyz Monster you control for a third activation.

While that may seem like a lot of hoops to jump through, it’s way easier to set up than you think.  This is a Spell Card with “Phantom Knights” in its name, so you can use The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots to add The Phantom Knights’ Rank-Up-Magic Launch from your Deck to hand. Unlike Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade, however, this card has the full “The Phantom Knights” wording in its name, so you can also add it to your hand with The Phantom Knights’ of Ancient Cloak!

Xyz Summoning Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon is easy using The Phantom Knights of Break Sword’s effect to destroy itself, but it also gives you a reason to run the Level 4 Phantom Knights like The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor.  And of course, using Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon’s effect detaches both of its Materials, so you can power up Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon by weakening your opponent’s monster, destroy it in battle, then Rank-Up in Main Phase 2 to make your opponent’s turn a lot more difficult.

You can get Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon in Invasion: Vengeance which comes out on November 4^th. The Sneak Peeks are this weekend at an OTS near you!