The Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview weekend is less than a week away, and I hope you’re getting excited about the new set. Today’s preview card is a fascinating monster that will appeal to all the Spellcaster fans out there. It’s the mysterious, enigmatic, and potentially deadly FET-EN20.

FET-EN20
Attribute: Fire
Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Level: 4
ATK: 1400
DEF: 1700

Each time a Spell Card is activated, put 1 Spell Counter on this card. Remove any number of Spell Counters from this card to destroy 1 face-up monster with an ATK equal to or less than the number of removed Spell Counters x 700.

I predict that this card is going to be a lot of fun for players who see it in their Sealed Pack card pool. This Spellcaster’s ATK value is a bit weak for attacking, so you’ll probably want to keep this card in defense position; its 1700 DEF should be enough to stand up to most monsters your opponent throws at you that are level 4 or lower. However, as with most brown-bordered monsters, it’s not the statistics that matter—it’s the effect that counts.
           
Card 20 provides a cheap and potentially reusable source of monster removal in an environment where monster removal is scarce. The fact that you may be able to blast one or possibly two monsters with its effect makes this Spellcaster a threat your opponent can’t afford to ignore. Perhaps the best thing about Card 20 is how easy it is to use the monster’s effect. Every time a spell is activated, regardless of which player activates it, the Spellcaster gets a spell counter. Everyone wants to activate spells on a consistent basis, so there are plenty of opportunities for Card 20 to gain counters and destroy monsters.
           
Who am I kidding? Sure, this Spellcaster is a great card in Sealed Pack, but that’s not what you want to use it for. What you want to do is take it home with you and stick it in your Dark Magician deck along with Skilled Dark Magician. The deck already counts on playing lots of spells to help get Dark Magician onto the field, so why not grab some extra monster removal to go along with it? Three spells need to be played before you can use Skilled Dark Magician’s ability. If you have Card 20 on the field when these spells are activated, you’ll also have the ability to take out any monster on the field with 2100 ATK or less
           
What monsters can you destroy? Card 20’s effect can easily destroy most Warriors, including Blade Knight and D. D. Warrior Lady, as well as other monsters like Berserk Gorilla, Slate Warrior, Spirit Reaper, Pyramid Turtle, and Airknight Parshath. In fact, almost every commonly played monster is at risk when Card 20 has three spell counters on it. This alone makes it an excellent choice for any deck, regardless of the deck’s type.

In addition to being a Spellcaster, the card also has the Fire attribute. After your opponent’s last attack, you can use UFO Turtle’s effect to search Card 20 out of your deck so that you can start using it on your next turn. This combo gives Fire-based decks a huge boost in playability, because they won’t have to rely on a single copy of Exiled Force for all their monster-removal needs. Combine the Spellcaster with the arbitrarily large Ultimate Baseball Kid and a couple copies of Solar Flare Dragon, and you have a solid base to build your deck upon.
           
That wraps up my previews. I hope you’ve enjoyed the cards you’ve seen so far. There are still a few days of previews left, so check Metagame.com daily to get the lowdown on as many of the new cards as you can. The Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview events are being held this weekend, so make sure you go to the one near you. You can find an event near you at www.yugiohpreview.com.

Also, click here and scroll down to check out the television commercial for the Flaming Etenity Sneak Preview tournaments!

Jerome McHale

Historical Perspectives will return next week! As usual, I appreciate your questions, comments, and suggestions. You can send them to me at jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu.