The Elemental Heroes are back in style! Featuring cards that Jaden used during the Sacred Beasts saga of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Enemy of Justice proves that the Elemental Heroes have an abundance of tricks at their disposal.

This week, we’ll look into the mechanics of HERO Flash!! and the four respective cards it utilizes. Each of them lets HERO Flash!! achieve its intended results. A thorough knowledge of them will ensure that you’ll find success with it.

We begin with H - Heated Heart, a card that many of you may have found yourselves relying upon for support at the Enemy of Justice Sneak Preview events.

“Select 1 face-up monster on your side of the field to activate this card. Increase the ATK of that monster by 500 points. During battle between that attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of that card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. These effects continue until the end of this turn.”

The basic functions of H - Heated Heart should be quite familiar. You begin by selecting one face-up monster on your side of the field, which will receive the benefits of the effect for the turn (so be sure to choose wisely). When H - Heated Heart is resolved, the selected monster gains 500 ATK and the piercing damage ability, similar to Airknight Parshath and Saber Beetle.

Sounds simple enough, right? In a way, it’s like having Big Bang Shot for one turn without having to worry about any drawbacks. It’s also enough to make any Spirit Reaper or Treeborn Frog think twice about standing in your way.

Monsters with “Spell Immunity” are not a good choice for this card, however. Due to their effects, they will not gain the 500 ATK, nor will they receive the piercing ability. Keep this in mind if you run an Elemental Hero deck that utilizes Non-Spellcasting Area or something similar.

Next we have E - Emergency Call, which allows you to “add 1 monster from your Deck to your hand that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its card name.” Many players would consider this needless, because they could always use Reinforcement of the Army and get any level 4 or lower Warrior monster from the deck (including most of the Elemental Heroes). But the higher-level Elemental Heroes, such as Elemental Hero Bladedge and Elemental Hero Necroshade, can truly benefit from this card. We’ve seen Jaden use A Hero Emerges to bring Elemental Hero Bladedge into the game and save himself from danger. With E - Emergency Call, you can find your most powerful Elemental Hero and always have it at the ready for your copy of A Hero Emerges, just like Jaden.

E - Emergency Call also allows the Elemental Heroes to create easier Fusion summons. Normally a monster like Elemental Hero Necroshade can be easily obtained from your deck, but with Emergency Call, you can fish it out quickly and use it in a fusion with Elemental Hero Wildheart. After getting Necroshade into the graveyard, another E - Emergency Call allows you to search out Elemental Hero Bladedge, which you can then summon without tributes, because of Necroshade’s effect.

Let’s move on to R - Righteous Justice, which that lets you “destroy Spell or Trap Cards on the field equal to the number of face-up cards on your side of the field that include ‘Elemental Hero’ in their card names.” When you activate R - Righteous Justice, you don’t declare any targets. You simply activate it and then wait for your opponent’s response. No one knows how many cards R - Righteous Justice will destroy until it is resolved, and therefore it isn’t possible to select any targets when it is activated.

When you resolve R - Righteous Justice, count the number of face-up cards on your side of the field that include “Elemental Hero” in their card name. After doing so, select a number of spell or trap cards on the field equal to that number. (For example, if I count two “Elemental Hero” cards on my side of the field, I’ll destroy two spell or trap cards.)

However, R - Righteous Justice depends on the number of face-up “Elemental Hero” cards on your side of the field. If you count three face-up “Elemental Hero” cards on your side of the field and your opponent has only one spell or trap card on his or her field, it would not be possible to destroy any spell or trap cards, because you must destroy a number of spell and trap cards equal to the number of face-up “Elemental Hero” cards you counted. Luckily, you can select to destroy your very own cards with this effect. In our previous example, if I have two spell or trap cards on my side of the field, I can still use R - Righteous Justice by simply selecting my two spell or trap cards to be destroyed, allowing me to destroy my opponent’s one spell or trap card as well. In this way, you can choose to destroy your own set Dark Coffin or Statue of the Wicked, and gain an unexpected advantage over your opponent.

Since R - Righteous Justice doesn’t target, it is important to remember that your opponent does not know what cards you will destroy when you activate it. He or she will have to react blindly, which takes an effort to guess what you will do.

Finally we have O - Oversoul, a card that allows you to “select 1 Normal Monster in your Graveyard that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its card name and Special Summon it to your side of the field.” This means you can now special summon any of your normal monster Elemental Hero cards from the graveyard with no added cost, which can come in handy for getting back a fighter or to help set up for our final card of the week . . .

When Jaden played against the legendary ancient pharaoh Shadow Rider, HERO Flash!! allowed him to pull out a victory when it seemed like all was lost.

“Remove from play these cards in your Graveyard to activate this card: ‘H - Heated Heart’, ‘E - Emergency Call’, ‘R - Righteous Justice’ and ‘O – Oversoul’. Special Summon 1 Normal Monster from your Deck that includes ‘Elemental Hero’ in its card name. This turn, Normal Monsters on your side of the field that include ‘Elemental Hero’ in their card names can attack your opponent's Life Points directly.”

You may want to borrow a play from Jaden and use HERO Flash!! as a final move for your Elemental Heroes. By removing one of each of the four HERO cards in your graveyard from play, your normal Elemental Hero monsters will be able to attack your opponent directly. You even get to special summon one from your deck to help speed things along.

At the moment, Elemental Hero Sparkman is the strongest normal Elemental Hero monster with 1600 ATK. Just two of them attacking directly will dish out 3200 points of damage, which can be considerable in the late game. It gives the Elemental Heroes a way to achieve victory when their fusion game hasn’t played out as well as expected.

Naturally, each of your normal Elemental Hero monsters attack separately, so your opponent can attempt to stop their attacks with cards like Sakuretsu Armor. However, with R - Righteous Justice, you can clear the path before unleashing HERO Flash!!.

In a way, the four cards can be quickly used to create a great damage swing in a single turn. You use Oversoul to get a normal Elemental Hero monster from your graveyard into play, then use Emergency Call to fetch one from your deck that you can normal summon. Next, you play Heated Heart to give one of your Elemental Heroes an extra 500 ATK and piercing damage. With two Elemental Heroes face-up, Righteous Justice will take out two of your opponent’s spell or trap cards. With the path clear, HERO Flash!! puts your third Elemental Hero into play, and lets you begin your direct attacks.

One final note—only the face-up Elemental Heroes you have on your side of the field when HERO Flash!! resolves will gain the ability to attack directly. If you summon one afterwards, it will not be blessed like its brethren. Make sure you have your offensive line assembled before calling the play.

Until next time, send all comments to Curtis@Metagame.com.