The newest Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG booster set, Force of the Breaker, will be officially released in a few weeks, but you can play with the new cards this weekend at a Sneak Preview event near you. If you haven’t been checking out the previews these past two weeks, you’ve missed some very powerful stuff. The Crystal Beasts in particular are shaping up to be a potent deck theme with their introduction in this set. Force of the Breaker also includes the re-introduction of Chaos-style monsters. Last week, I showed you Sky Scourge Enrise, a new version of the powerful Chaos Sorcerer. This week, a descendent of Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End will be rearing its head. Check out the text below:

Sky Scourge Norleras

Level 8

DARK

Fiend/Effect

ATK: 2400

DEF: 1500

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. It cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play 1 LIGHT Fairy monster and 3 DARK Fiend monsters from your Graveyard. You can pay 1000 Life Points to send all cards on the field and in both hands to the Graveyard. If you do, then draw 1 card.

Super Rare/Ultimate Rare

Pretty good, isn’t it?

Okay, that was definitely an understatement. It’s very good.

Sky Scourge Norleras, like Sky Scourge Enrise, has a tougher summoning requirement than the original Chaos monsters. It also can’t be special summoned except through its own effect, so don’t expect to play Premature Burial on it anytime soon. However, what you get for managing to summon this monster is an effect that can easily win games. Norleras almost completely emulates Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End in just about every way. In fact, I’d have to say that the effect of Norleras is better!

While Chaos Emperor Dragon had a damaging effect that went along with bringing about the apocalypse for both players’ fields and hands, Sky Scourge Norleras instead replaces this burn damage by allowing you to draw a card. This is a very subtle, but powerful and useful bonus. While Chaos Emperor Dragon could end games with the damage it dealt, the reason why it was Forbidden was because of how easy it was to summon. Sky Scourge Norleras requires a larger investment to get the effect, and what you get is still a bargain. As I said, drawing a card after the effect rather than dealing damage means that Sky Scourge Norleras will almost always be better than Chaos Emperor Dragon for one very important reason: it allows you to play something after blowing up everything else.

The downside to Chaos Emperor Dragon was that it had to win you the game, or else you were reducing the game down to a very annoying luck of the draw. This is why it typically wouldn’t be summoned unless the burn damage was enough to finish off your opponent. Sky Scourge Norleras, however, puts you ahead in options the moment you use its effect. Therefore it gives you a better chance to recover from having everything destroyed. It’s also one of the best ways to use Sky Scourge Norleras as a true win condition.

Drawing an extra card can either allow you to build up your defenses again, or instantly win you the game. Diamond Dude Turbo has taught us all how powerful Dimension Fusion can be, and Sky Scourge Norleras is another reason why Dimension Fusion is one of the most explosive spells ever printed. If you can draw Dimension Fusion after removing four monsters in your graveyard from play and then blowing up the field, then there is no doubt that you will win the duel. This scenario can actually be guaranteed with cards like A Feather of the Phoenix. In fact, A Feather of the Phoenix lets you guarantee that the card you draw off of Sky Scourge Norleras will be the best option you can get. As an added bonus, A Feather of the Phoenix can also put Dark Fiends or Light Fairies into your graveyard to fulfill Norleras’ summoning.

Another useful aspect of Sky Scourge Norleras harkens back to some of the cool tricks you could pull with your own Chaos Emperor Dragon. Strike Ninja conveniently feeds off of Norleras’ biggest requirement for being special summoned: Dark monsters. Being up a card and having Strike Ninja momentarily removed can put you in a winning position after using your Dark Sky Scourge’s effect, especially if you pull off Strike Ninja’s effect with a D. D. Scout Plane or two!

While the summoning requirements for Sky Scourge Norleras are hefty, they aren’t actually that difficult to fulfill. Giant Germ is easily the best enabler for summoning the Sky Scourge to the field. If one Giant Germ is destroyed as a result of battle, it conveniently brings out Dark Fiends number two and three, and they’ll even dish out some burn damage if they are destroyed as a result of battle. It’s like they’re just telling you, “Hey, let me get destroyed. I’m awesome fodder for that big win condition in your hand!”

Even if you aren’t using Giant Germ to summon Norleras, there are so many good Dark Fiends in the format that you will have no trouble fulfilling the requirements. Snipe Hunter puts Norleras fodder into your graveyard, and is also a Dark Fiend himself. Night Assailant provides monster removal as well as food for Norleras. Mask of Darkness is already awesome, and Norleras gives the Fiend more reasons to be played. Even the Dark World monsters typically go to the graveyard quickly and effectively, though they won’t trigger off of the effect of Sky Scourge Norleras. They are also powerful options for enabling the summoning of this behemoth! If you read my Enrise preview last week, you should know by now how incredibly easy it is to put Light Fairies and Dark Fiends into the graveyard. The summoning requirements for both Sky Scourges are really, really easy to fulfill. Heck, even Sangan, one of the most popular monsters ever printed, is a Dark Fiend. There are so many viable choices for fulfilling the removal requirements of Sky Scourge Norleras’ summon that you won’t have any problems at all. Sangan even finds you another version of whichever requirement you are most in need of, whether it is a Nova Summoner or a Giant Germ.

You won’t want to miss this weekend’s Force of the Breaker Sneak Preview event. It is arguably the best set to be released in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game since Invasion of Chaos. Heck, in my opinion, it’s even better than Invasion of Chaos, and it’s hard to say something like that! With the Crystal Beasts, the Sky Scourges, and many other powerful cards to be released in this set, it’s hard not to look forward to its tournament debut.

If you are still wondering whether or not you should be going to your local Sneak event weekend, and aren’t swayed by the free promotional card you earn for entering or all of the other free stuff you could get, just remember this very important thing:

“Force of the Breaker has a monster that is actually better than Chaos Emperor Dragon.”