This week, we’re previewing cards that will shake the foundation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG on almost every level of play. Whether you’re a casual duelist, carrying your cards to school and looking forward to the new thematic deck concepts offered by the upcoming release of The Duelist Genesis, or a seasoned tournament veteran whose jaw is dropping from the impact of Stardust Dragon, Gladiator Beast Equeste, and War Chariot, you’ve most likely been stunned by how different this game is going to be. Decks that were already powerful have been handed new cards, the entire concept of the Fusion deck has been changed, and the expectation of new, tournament-viable decks is about to send every player back to square one.

This weekend, we’ll be considering one of the most powerful of the new deck archetypes introduced by The Duelist Genesis: Psychics. Today, we’ll be looking at three cards:

Emergency Teleport

Quick-Play Spell

Special summon a Level 3 or lower Psychic monster from your hand or deck. In the end phase of this turn, remove that monster from play.

Krebons

When Krebons is selected as an attack target, you can pay 800 Life Points to negate that attack.

Thought Ruler Archfiend

When Thought Ruler Archfiend destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, gain Life Points equal to that monster's original ATK. You can pay 1000 Life Points to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card that targets 1 Psychic-Type monster, and destroy it.

It’s difficult to overstate how incredible Emergency Teleport really is. If it was a normal spell, it would be good. However, it’s not a normal spell: it’s a quick-play spell. It’s difficult to draw a comparison between this card and previously existing ones . . . perhaps a mixture of Reinforcement of the Army and Scapegoat, but replacing "Warrior" with "Gladiator Beast" so you could contact Fuse on the next turn. That’s about as close a comparison as one can find, and reflecting upon it forces the realization that all three parts contributing to the effect have previously dominated a format (Scapegoat’s ability to shut down an opponent’s field control, the viable "toolbox" that Reinforcement of the Army provides, and the powerful options that give Gladiator Beasts the ability to Fuse monsters quickly and without cost). In just this one card, we see Psychics already drawing from the concepts that drove the dominant archetypes in formats spread across four years!

Emergency Teleport can be broken down into three different strengths: as a quick-play spell, as a card with a vast range of options (more specifically, all the different Psychic monsters it can search), and as a card capable of special summoning a Tuner monster from your deck. We’ll consider each separately.

Unfortunately, the monster retrieved by Emergency Teleport is removed at the end of the turn it is summoned. Of course, there are ways to get around this. You’ll be able to abuse it via Book of Moon during your opponent’s turn, or you could simply make sure the monster isn’t on the field when the turn ends—tribute it, use it for a Synchro summon . . . there are plenty of options. The effect this has on playing the card is simple. Only in rare circumstances and combinations of cards will playing this spell during your opponent’s turn be beneficial (unless you’re about to be attacked for game, in which case it is similar to the defensive use of Return from the Different Dimension). It’s simply not ideal, though it does offer options. However, being a quick-play spell offers it numerous options during your turn. You’ll be able to play it during your battle phase for a surprise attack, you can chain it to Cold Wave, and you can even make some more creative moves like playing around Mirror Force or throwing off cards like Widespread Ruin). Emergency Teleport being a quick-play is an added benefit to an already great card.

The first really striking power of Emergency Teleport is its similarity to Reinforcement of the Army. That means that, if you want, you can simply splash Psychics into any deck. You don’t have to run three copies of your Psychic monsters because Emergency Teleport conditionally represents three extra copies of every Psychic in your deck. With some of the Psychics we’ll be reviewing tomorrow, you’ll begin to realize just how powerful the ability to search any single Psychic will be.

Already accepting how this ability to search the deck will affect the monster lineup in a Psychic deck, how does it affect Emergency Teleport itself?

Tournament players have quoted the theory of "card advantage" for a long time. Whether you understand that theory and accept it, completely disregard it, or have never even heard of, it is irrelevant. It simply reflects the fact that having more options than an opponent is a very good thing. Emergency Teleport offers you as many options as the number of Psychic monsters in your deck, which is most likely a lot. Remember that, in a sense, it represents multiple options, and thus proves strong during almost any situation. This same theory was used in Warrior decks, and more recently in Gladiator Beast decks. In the same way Gladiator Beasts can deal with almost any situation (because each Gladiator Beast monster has, in a sense, the effect of every Gladiator Beast monster in your deck), Emergency Teleport offers that kind of range to Psychics.

This brings us to the third strength of Emergency Teleport, which is its use in conjunction with Krebons. Krebons is a Tuner, which as you already know is necessary to summon Synchro monsters. This means you have the option of special summoning a monster from your deck that can be used as your Tuner for any Synchro summon that doesn’t dictate a specific Tuner other than Krebons. That’s right: Stardust Dragon, here we come! That means that while Emergency Teleport offers us the options relevant to being a quick-play spell (and those offered by every Psychic in our deck), it also grants us the effects of our Tuner monsters. In a sense, it ties your deck, your field, and your extra deck into a single cohesive Swiss army knife.

Krebons alone is also a powerful monster. Its ability to repel attacks allows you easy Synchro summons and a strong field presence. Paying 800 life points may seem costly, but keeping a monster on the field is often something that more costly cards like My Body as a Shield or Solemn Judgment are forced into doing. In truth, it’s a small price to pay for all the benefits having a monster on the field offers (moreover, having a Tuner monster on the field). Also, don’t forget that different Psychic monsters have different levels. That means that matching levels for a Synchro summon is easier in a Psychic deck than in almost any other.

The last gem we’ll be looking at is Thought Ruler Archfiend, a Psychic Synchro monster. You’ll probably first notice its ATK: a hefty 2700. It may be too small to run over Dark Armed Dragon, but it’s more than large enough to take care of most cards your opponent will be playing.

Next we see that Thought Ruler Archfiend has an effect similar to Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, except that it replaces the cost of a discard with 1000 life points. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop cards that don’t target, such as Mirror Force or Torrential Tribute. However, it does stop cards like Soul Exchange and Brain Control, which will almost surely stop a Monarch deck in its tracks.

Finally, Thought Ruler Archfiend grants us some life point gain. A rather recurrent theme with Psychic monsters is that they have amazing effects, but at the cost of life points. It’s helpful to remember that players are paying 4000 life points to activate Solemn Judgment on a fairly regular basis. Normally, life points only matter if your opponent has a way of taking the few remaining ones away (and if you’re a strong enough duelist to not be afraid to make that life point sacrifice, it’s unlikely that your opponent can overcome that edge). Normally, a veteran player would look at life point gain cards, shrug, and trade the card away to a less experienced player for that reason. However, life points represent options themselves when a player is using a Psychic deck, since they are required as payment for the activation of almost every effect. This means that Thought Ruler Archfiend is going to be a staple in the Extra deck for Psychics, since it opens up a whole new range of options: gaining life points in order to pay for effects. At the very least, it’ll sit in your Extra deck and never get in your way. At its best, it’ll be Synchro summoned and win you the game. It isn’t hard to do the math on this one:

Risk = 0

Reward = possibly winning the game (i.e., Infinite)

Psychics are some of the most potent cards in the new set, and it’s going to be an exciting Sneak Preview. Tomorrow we’ll be looking at even more powerful Psychic cards, so be sure not to miss the second Preview installment of what may end up being the new deck on the block. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface on Psychics, since it’s a deck primarily based on synergy. The more of them you see, the more powerful the deck becomes!