Special summoning is awesome. Decks can be built entirely around engineering multiple special summons in one turn to break games wide open. Monsters that can special summon themselves, like Cyber Dragon and Treeborn Frog, are pretty common in Top 8 decklists.

The powerful effects of Mystic Tomato and Treeborn Frog have always been respected. Treeborn Frog opens up many tribute possibilities, while the Tomato still maintains a little toolbox of monsters to fetch. While there’s no doubt as to the playability of Shining Angel, there’s an argument among strategists that it is limited in targets and thus not useful outside of its self-replacing ability.

Enter Destiny Hero - Fear Monger.

Destiny Hero - Fear Monger

Warrior/Dark

Level 4

1000 ATK/1000 DEF

If this card is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 monster with “Destiny Hero” in its name from your Graveyard (except “Destiny Hero - Fear Monger”) during your next standby phase.

This little guy plucks any other monster with the name “Destiny Hero” in it from your graveyard and throws it down on the field. You don’t get the monster until your next standby phase, but that’s not necessarily a drawback. If Fear Monger is destroyed by your opponent’s attack, it means he or she can’t blow it up in main phase 2 with a spell card. When you’ve got a Tomato or Angel on the field, it can feel nasty to stare down an Asura Priest, but not when Fear Monger’s there.

As of now, there are a few monsters that Fear Monger can bring back. Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude is quite a little powerhouse that can easily net you a free card or two. This is one situation where the standby phase is the best point for special summoning the Destiny Hero. Now you’ll get the first chance possible to activate your Diamond Dude without it being destroyed first.

Destiny Hero - Dreadmaster benefits quite nicely from this card as well. It gets an ATK boost equal to the ATK of all your Destiny Heroes, and special summoning another monster means the Dreadmaster’s ATK can get quite high. Also, if you read Fear Monger’s effect closely, you’ll notice that the level of the monster being special summoned isn’t restricted to four. So the Dreadmaster itself can be special summoned.

Both Destiny Hero - Doom Lord and Destiny Hero - Captain Tenacious can be special summoned as well. The Captain brings back more monsters as well, and this tricky twosome can create quite a stable field. Another fun monster to bring back is Destiny Hero - Dasher. You say you haven’t heard of it yet? That’s because it’s my other preview card!

Destiny Hero - Dasher

Warrior/Dark

Level 6

2100 ATK/1000 DEF

Once per turn you can Tribute 1 monster, and this card gains 1000 ATK until the end of the turn. When this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase. If this card is in the Graveyard, when you draw a Monster Card during your Draw Phase you can show it to your opponent and Special Summon it. Use this effect only once.

Now that’s something we haven’t seen yet. A free special summon of any monster that can be special summoned. The cost? This card only has to exist in the graveyard! It’s not going to do a whole lot while it’s on the field. Dasher looks more like a weak Goblin Elite Attack Force, though it’s only stuck in defense position for one turn before it gets to swing again. This forces your opponent to attack the Dasher and get it out of the way, which is exactly what you want. Once Dasher’s in the grave, you can go crazy with Dreadmaster or Diamond Dude.

You can crank the Dreadmaster’s attack up by special summoning and normal summoning extra monsters every turn. Busting out a pair of Diamond Dudes in one turn can grab a lot of extra cards quickly. Double the Captain Tenacious can get quite bothersome for an opponent as well, creating a wall of recurring monsters for him or her to wade through. This type of wall promotes the same field presence that the rest of the deck is trying to achieve. However, the wall is a bit difficult to set up, and the powerful effects of Chaos Sorcerer and D. D. Warrior Lady can tear the wall down. That’s where Dasher steps in. Dasher makes the wall a lot easier to put into effect, and if your opponent doesn’t have a powerful out-of-battle removal effect, he or she will be in a lot of trouble. You could even throw down a copy of Spirit Barrier, and suddenly your opponent will be in a huge bind.