Spellcasters weren’t underpowered before this Structure Deck was released. In fact, they have been seeing quite a bit of play throughout 2005. Magician of Faith is easily one of the game’s most powerful recursion effects, and Breaker the Magical Warrior immediately saw tournament play upon its release. Dark Magician of Chaos was recognized as the game-ending version of Magician of Faith, and Chaos Sorcerer gave stubborn Chaos duelists a boost after its cousin, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, was locked away on the Forbidden list. There was also the Goat Control deck that dominated the previous Advanced format (and the Tsukuyomi Lock deck, which did very little dominating, despite how much I hyped it last year). Take a look at how many Spellcasters were played in those decks: Tsukuyomi was a spiritual Spellcaster, and Apprentice Magician was a Spellcaster that could recharge Breaker the Magical Warrior and search out Magician of Faith. Even Thousand-Eyes Restrict, the fusion monster that looked like some sort of hideous mutation, was a Spellcaster. It’s been proven countless times that Spellcasters are indeed powerful in tournament play.

As a big fan of Spellcasters, the new Spellcaster’s Judgment Structure Deck really excites me. Not only does it contain cards that are new to North American shores, but it also makes me happy that expensive cards such as Breaker the Magical Warrior are being reprinted in common form. As an incredibly cheap gamer, I truly appreciate it. The new cards are interesting, but one new spell card in particular is especially intriguing, and that card is Magical Blast.

Magical Blast

Normal Spell

You can only activate this card while there is a Spellcaster-Type monster(s) on your side of the field. Inflict 200 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points for each Spellcaster-Type monster on your side of the field. If this card is in the Graveyard, you can add this card to your hand instead of conducting your normal draw during your Draw Phase.

Magical Blast has one of the most interesting card effects to arise in Yu-Gi-Oh! as of yet. At first glance, I’m sure that most players would simply shrug at the effect of this spell before tossing it aside into their pile of commons that will never see play. However, there are a few key aspects to its effect that make Magical Blast worth considering in specific deck types and for specific reasons.

There are a few effects in the game that have the cost of discarding one spell card from your hand. This cost is a large burden to players who wish to play with these cards, as most spell cards have powerful effects and will probably be the last thing that a duelist would want to discard. After all, it’s more advantageous to discard monster cards that you can resurrect from your graveyard later in a duel. Since the discard of a spell card is a higher cost, it can dramatically hinder the use of cards such as Spell Shield Type-8 and Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell. However, Magical Blast makes paying these costs much easier. The key is that you can add Magical Blast to your hand in place of your normal draw during your draw phase, every turn, if this spell card is in your graveyard. This means that it’s a constant supply of spell fodder for any unique costs you may need to fulfill. Magical Blast easily makes a card like Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell much easier to play.

There are also specific monster effects that involve discarding spell cards from your hand as a cost. Chiron the Mage is probably the first monster that came to the minds of veteran duelists when thinking about a recurring spell card. When combined with Chiron the Mage, Magical Blast is a recurring form of spell and trap destruction that can be used against your opponent’s cards. This is incredibly useful in a format that sees many non-chainable trap cards or continuous spell and trap cards, and this current Advanced format loves multiple copies of Sakuretsu Armor. The ability to easily destroy your opponent’s spells and traps is incredibly useful, and it makes your opponent’s decisions much harder when it comes to setting spells and traps face-down. Magical Blast also makes Chiron the Mage into a huge threat against any deck that relies on continuous stall utilities, such as Level Limit – Area B and Gravity Bind. This combo provides a nearly endless supply of removal for your opponent’s most significant cards. Therefore, if you manage to get either of those cards on the field and you have a Magical Blast ready to recur every turn, there’s a good chance that your opponent is not going to win the duel.

D. D. M. – Different Dimension Master and Reshef the Dark Being also have the same cost as Chiron the Mage. Different Dimension Master, in particular, received a serious boost from Magical Blast, along with Divine Sword – Phoenix Blade, which was released in the Warrior’s Triumph Structure Deck. These two spell cards give you fast and efficient special summoning capabilities from a zone in the game that’s rarely used. There’s nothing scarier than being able to special summon Dark Magician of Chaos more than once per duel.

If pieces of the Goat Control and Tsukuyomi Lock deck were to become unrestricted, Magical Blast would probably see play in those archetypes as well. Even without any serious bomb to play in those decks, Magical Blast adds a unique win condition to both strategies. Whether you’ve set up a Thousand-Eyes Restrict removal engine or you’re looping Time Seal together with Mask of Darkness and Tsukuyomi, you should always have a Spellcaster-type monster face-up on your field during your main phases. The ability to return Magical Blast in place of your normal draw will allow you to slowly deplete the opponent’s life points outside of the battle phase. In Control decks, Magical Blast allows you to win the game without the potential of attacking into major removal cards, such as Sakuretsu Armor.

What is most interesting about Magical Blast is that it replaces your normal draw each turn. This means that you aren’t drawing any new cards during the turn in which you return Magical Blast to your hand through its effect. Magical Blast’s effect is a built-in weapon against any forms of deck destruction that become viable in the future, unless the deck destruction deck forces you to draw cards outside of your draw phase. However, the key to Magical Blast’s ability is that it prevents a Control deck, such as Tsukuyomi Lock or Goat Control, to lose by running out of cards! Running out of cards or running out of time in a match was one of the biggest downsides of Control decks in the previous Advanced format, and Magical Blast eliminates those threats completely.

Magical Blast is only one interesting new card to come from the Spellcaster’s Judgment Structure Deck. Be sure to take a close look at the other new cards that were released, as they all possess unique and powerful abilities.* These Structure Decks are a great asset to new duelists who are looking to improve upon their card pool to use for tournaments, and it’s also great for veterans who are looking for new tools to test out for Shonen Jump Championships. Spellcaster’s Judgment, like the previous Structure Decks, will not disappoint either crowd.

*My personal favorite card from this new Structure Deck is Nightmare Steel Cage. In a way, it makes me sad, since I could imagine running three copies of that card in my Tsukuyomi Lock deck if Tsukuyomi were not restricted. I can safely say that some of my opponents would have been shouting expletives at more than simply Magician of Faith.