Last week, I mentioned many times that the new Crystal Beast monsters are very, very good at hand and deck manipulation. What this means is that the new theme is very consistent because it sees a lot of cards. Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus is a powerful search effect, as is Crystal Blessing. Rare Value is also a powerful card draw. These tools help make the Crystal Beasts an effective deck strategy.

However, it is not the only powerful deck manipulation theme available. The Volcanic monsters that were released in Force of the Breaker also have powerful deck manipulation . . . but not in the way you’d think. The Volcanic monster theme is actually the best enabler for this kind of deck-manipulation power, but the real star of the theme is an old gem from the Strike of Neos booster set. Card Trader has always had potential, but it never saw much serious play other than in the occasional Gadget deck. The Volcanic monsters give this continuous spell its shot at being the key to an entire deck.

Card Trader is a continuous spell that has no effect except during your standby phase, when you can choose whether or not you would like to trigger it. This effect uses the chain, and once during your standby phase, you can choose to shuffle back one card in your hand in order to draw a new card. This effect is particularly useful when you need multiple chances to find certain cards in your deck, in which case Card Trader is an extra chance at drawing those key cards each turn. Card Trader is also a great card in this regard by making sure cards that need to remain in your deck will be shuffled back in, and you’ll be granted an extra draw in exchange for shuffling a card back.

The second benefit mentioned above is particularly good with monsters like Thunder Dragon. Thunder Dragon is a powerful way of increasing your hand and thinning your deck, and has been useful in managing the discard costs of certain cards since its release back in Metal Raiders. Its weakness, however, comes when you draw multiple copies in your opening hand. This cancels out the effectiveness of running Thunder Dragon in the first place! However, with Card Trader, the risk is lowered, since you can shuffle excess Thunder Dragon cards back into your deck. This will then let you discard a Thunder Dragon in your hand to get two more out of your deck. Card Trader makes sure that the extra Thunder Dragon you drew becomes a different card instead.

This trick can also be very useful in turning Thunder Dragon into more useful cards. By discarding a Thunder Dragon to get two other copies of itself out of your deck, you can shuffle back one during your next standby phase with Card Trader. This turns one of those extra Thunder Dragon cards into a new card that you essentially got for free, since you can then discard the remaining Thunder Dragon in your hand to get back the one you just shuffled away. This is a great way to make sure Card Trader gives you an extra card in case it is quickly removed from the field, meaning that you will get a very positive benefit from playing the continuous spell before your opponent destroys it.

Gadgets also benefit from Card Trader. Usually, if a player with a Gadget deck draws too many copies of one specific Gadget monster, its strengths immediately vanish. Card Trader helps solve this problem by smoothing out these awkward draws, making the stream of Gadget monsters more reliable. The same logic also applies to monsters like Hydrogeddon. Typically, drawing any copies of Hydrogeddon past the first one is a waste, but Card Trader helps make sure it does not stay that way. Several prominent Gadget decks have already used this solution, most notably the one played by Brian Long in SJC Columbus, where Brian played both the Gadgets and Hydrogeddon with Card Trader. This made sure Card Trader kept both extra Hydrogeddon cards and extra Gadget monsters in his deck.

So what does this have to do with the Volcano monsters found in Force of the Breaker? What part of this theme makes Card Trader an even more powerful tool than it already was before? Card Trader has some powerful synergies already that can make it a solid form of deck manipulation. What card from this new set is so outstanding with Card Trader that it makes the card a solid card-drawing engine?

Volcanic Shell.

Shell’s purpose is to be a source of renewed card presence when used in conjunction with Blaze Accelerator, as you can discard a copy to destroy a monster and then pay 500 life points to get another Volcanic Shell into your hand. Thanks to the ease of searching out Blaze Accelerator due to Volcanic Rocket, the Volcanic Shell can provide sufficient monster removal. The reason it is notable in today’s context, however, is its powerful synergy with Card Trader.

This card-drawing trick is easy enough to understand. First of all, you need to somehow get Volcanic Shell into the graveyard. This can easily be done with some of the other Volcano cards available, as you can use Blaze Accelerator to put it into the graveyard (and Volcanic Rocket can make sure you get the Accelerator into your hand). Then you pay 500 life points to get a Volcanic Shell out of your deck, increasing your hand size by one. During your standby phase, you can trigger Card Trader’s effect to shuffle back that Volcanic Shell in order to draw a card. This turns that Volcanic Shell into a fresh new card. On top of that, you can get the Volcanic Shell you just shuffled back during your main phase by paying another 500 life points. This setup creates an extremely powerful card-drawing engine that can fuel a variety of strategies, including an extensive line-up of monster removal or discard-based effects!

The powerful synergy Volcanic Shell and Card Trader share with each other can create a drawing engine that is very hard to beat. While you’ll lose 500 life points each turn, you will essentially be drawing an extra card. When you are drawing two cards a turn compared to your opponent’s one card, chances are that you are going to win because you’ll always have more options available to you—whether it’s extra monster removal, extra monsters to summon, or extra spell and trap removal.

Card Trader had its uses before the release of Force of the Breaker, since it helped smooth out the Gadget deck by making sure there is a constant stream of machine monsters to search every turn. It also worked wonders with Thunder Dragon and Hydrogeddon. Now, thanks to Volcanic Shell, Card Trader is even better, turning its effect from a deck manipulation hand-sculpting tool into one of the most effective draw engines to be released in a long time. The sheer card-drawing power of Card Trader and Volcanic Shell rivals the power of Pot of Greed and Magician of Faith, and this draw engine is actually legal for the Advanced format! If you don’t own a playset of Card Trader cards yet, I would suggest getting three copies quickly. As the Advanced format continues to develop and change with each updated Forbidden and Limited list, Card Trader is bound to rise in value as it remains an overall top-notch continuous spell card.