One of the biggest criticisms leveled against field spells is that decks based around them fail if the field isn’t out. On the other end of the spectrum, they end up with bad hands if they draw multiple copies of both the field and Terraforming when they do work properly. Force of the Breaker seeks to change all that by introducing a new cycle of cards that will change the way we think about playing field spells. Let’s take a look at the ultra rare from the cycle, the only Elemental Hero card that Jaden Yuki has never played in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Elemental Hero Captain Gold!

Elemental Hero Captain Gold

Level 4

LIGHT/Warrior/Effect

You can discard this card to the Graveyard to search 1 "Skyscraper" from your Deck and put it in your hand. If this card is on the field but "Skyscraper" is not, destroy this card.

2100 ATK/800 DEF

All of the new field spell searchers are monsters that you can either discard from your hand to search out the thematically appropriate field spell, or summon to the field to have a (likely) 2100 ATK beater to go with your field spell. Some of them have 2100 ATK naturally (like Captain Gold) and some of them need their field spell to pump themselves up to 2100. But none of them will survive if their field spell isn’t out. As you can see from Captain Gold’s effect, he’s destroyed if he’s ever on the field and Skyscraper isn’t. Still, Captain Gold is level 4, making him the biggest non-Fusion Elemental Hero in the game (and certainly one of the best all-around Elemental Hero cards overall). Remember, you can’t use Captain Gold with Skyscraper 2 - Hero City, but all that really does is promote what the Elemental Heroes stand for: diversity.

Captain Gold has a very specific purpose: to strengthen decks based entirely on the component Heroes and Skyscraper without forcing them to be clogged with too many Terraforming or Skyscraper cards. My first thought was that Captain Gold would be brilliant in a deck based on HERO Flash!!, since he’s both a beater and a searcher that’s easily searched for himself. After all, he is bigger than nearly every other level 4 monster in the game, and he can trade off with an opposing Cyber Dragon if need be. Captain Gold is also brilliant with the new Shonen Jump promo card Elemental Hero Ocean, since Ocean will allow you to use Captain Gold again and again as long as you can protect Ocean from destruction. Even if Ocean is destroyed, you probably have plenty of ways to bring him back. This brings up the question of what ratio of searcher to field spells you should play in the deck. I think this depends a lot on which field spell/searcher pair you’re playing, but it isn’t fair to force you to only wonder about what else might be in store for you come May 5^th. Here’s a card that many players out there have probably only dreamed about for a long time:

Gravekeeper’s Commandant

Level 4

DARK/Spellcaster/Effect

You can discard this card to the Graveyard to search 1 "Necrovalley" from your Deck and put it in your hand.

1600 ATK/1500 DEF

This is the part where everybody runs to their common boxes and pulls out all their Gravekeepers with names that don’t end in Spy. The Commandant provides the deck with much-needed access to Necrovalley without having to resort to playing three copies of Terraforming to search out the field spells. Commandant is better in nearly every way in a Gravekeepers deck, acting as a 2100 ATK monster if you have Necrovalley or a Terraforming with a body (which you can then turn into a 2100 ATK monster thanks to Rite of Spirit). Basically, the only thing you can’t do with Gravekeeper’s Commandant that you’d really like to is search for him and bring him to your hand. This is where we begin to see a difference in the ratios that you’d like to play the field searchers in.

With Captain Gold, you could probably get away with only playing one or two of him with two or three copies of Skyscraper. Skyscraper is obviously vital to your deck if you’re playing Captain Gold, and it’s likely worth it to max out on the spell if it’s your primary means of defeating opposing monsters. Captain Gold, on the other hand, is one of the most searchable cards in the game. You can find him with Elemental Hero Stratos, E - Emergency Call, or Reinforcement of the Army, and once he’s gone, you can bring him back with Elemental Hero Ocean or The Warrior Returning Alive. I think you could definitely get away with just one Captain Gold if you desired, and given that he’s one of the new set’s four ultra rares, you might not have a choice at first. Personally, I would play two of them if at all possible, along with a full set of Skyscraper cards. As for the Commandant, there are a few ways you can go with this. You can run three of each, two of each, or three of one and two of the other. If I was going to run three of one and two of the other, it would likely be three Necrovalley cards and two Commandants, just because of the sheer necessity of Necrovalley for your average Gravekeepers deck. I’m not a fan of running two copies of a card your deck wants to see every single game as early as possible, even if you do have the means to search it out. Thus, I’d rule out running two of each, even as a possibility, unless you really want to live dangerously. I suggest starting off with three of each in your deck, and then cut them as necessary to get a feeling of the full range of possibilities that the Commandant opens up for your deck.

Overall, I think you’re going to be very excited to see these two cards if you get them at the Sneak Preview (you are going, right?). Just do your best to avoid building a new constructed deck in the middle of your sealed flight, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu