I don’t know about you, but I was sad when Change of Heart was removed from the Advanced format. It’s been one of my favorite cards since I started playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. I like the artwork and what the card does. I’ve won plenty of games by playing a last-minute Change of Heart, activating Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of a suspicious-looking spell or trap, and then attacking for the win. I know that a lot of other duelists liked to do this as well.

Now, there’s a cure for the broken Heart—it’s a card that plenty of people are looking forward to. It’s time to use your head and not your heart, because Brain Control is here!

Here’s what the spell does.
 
Pay 800 life points. Select one face-up monster on your opponent's side of the field. Take control of the selected monster until the end phase of the turn this card is activated.

This Change of Heart replacement has two restrictions. Considering what you get in return, paying 800 life points is a fair price. But if you keep reading, you’ll see that the card can only target face-up monsters. Boo! What if I want to use my opponent’s Magician of Faith? Face-down cards are rapidly becoming hands-off! While no one likes paying life points to use a card, the fact that Brain Control can only affect face-up monsters might end up being a greater source of complaint than its activation cost.

What decks can use this card? Just about any deck that included Change of Heart can run Brain Control, which means just about every deck can run the spell. Enemy Controller can fulfill a similar function, but that card has its fair share of drawbacks. It’s an expensive card, and sacrificing your field presence can be a problem. Many duelists would rather give up some life points than lose any field advantage.  

Brain Control doesn’t need synergy to be useful, but there are some cards that can boost the spell’s usefulness. Ceasefire and Swords of Revealing Light can help you get your hands on a previously face-down monster. United We Stand is back, so anything you can do to fill up your field will help you if you’re running the equip spell. What if you aren’t sure if your opponent’s set spell or trap is Mirror Force? Your opponent might grit his or her teeth and let an attack go through rather than destroy his or her own monster.

Brain Control works well enough on its own, however. We’re back to the “take your opponent’s monster and kill him or her with it or tribute it for a better monster and kill your opponent with that one instead” plan. There’s nothing like the classics!

As far as gameplay goes, players who have relied on Enemy Controller will get another option. It will be interesting to see the final balance between Brain Control and Enemy Controller. In any case, most top-level decks include strategies for controlling the opposing field, so any card that can do that will generate interest.

It’s a fair bet that anyone who pulls Brain Control in Limited will put it into his or her deck, because the card will probably do well. You should consider yourself lucky if you pull Brain Control at a Sneak Preview event, because it will more than cover the cost of the tournament!

Just like Lightning Vortex in Flaming Eternity, Brain Control is the “fixed and balanced” version of a previously restricted staple. You can expect that the card will work its way into the metagame. The latest Advanced format list gives “outside the box” decks a much clearer shot at the top, and the release of carefully tested cards in the new set will open the field even wider. Here come the new cards—what are you going to make of them?