So let’s take a look at two of the top cards from the new Duelist Packs, Hero’s Rule 2 and Hand Destruction!

Counter Trap
Negate the activation of an Effect Monster, Spell or Trap Card that targets a card(s) in the Graveyard, and destroy it.

It’s really easy to look at this card and say "Pfft! D.D. Crow’s way better than that!" I know, because that’s the precise reaction most players have expressed toward Hero’s Rule 2 whenever the card comes up in discussion. But that doesn’t really take into account everything Hero’s Rule 2 does.

Sure, Hero’s Rule 2 can stop just about anything D.D. Crow can stop—you can play it in response to Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted to cut off a special summon. You can negate Pot of Avarice, Book of Life, or even Light and Darkness Dragon’s third effect. Hero’s Rule 2 is actually better than D.D. Crow when it’s played in response to a monster effect like that of Il Blud, Zombie Master, or Royal Firestorm Guards, because while the Crow would only remove a target (and thus negate the effect), Hero’s Rule 2 will do that and then destroy the monster wielding the effect as well.

Granted, Hero’s Rule 2 has to be set on the field in order to be used, and it can’t remove a card preemptively to stop Destiny Hero - Malicious. These are the two factors that keep the average player believing that Hero’s Rule 2 is inferior to D.D. Crow, but I think any duelist who only looks that deep at the issue is missing the real point.

It’s not really that Hero’s Rule 2 can function as a pseudo-Crow that makes it so good. What’s generated interest for a number of Shonen Jump Day 2 regulars is its ability to also stop the Crow dead in its tracks. While Hero’s Rule 2 can often sub in for D.D. Crow, and sometimes even improve upon it in the right situation, it’s the fact that it also counters D.D. Crow that makes it a competitive gem.

Since D.D. Crow targets a card in your graveyard, you can easily chain Hero’s Rule 2 to its activation and keep whatever your opponent was trying to remove. That’s solid gold in decks that need their graveyard effects to resolve, primarily Zombies and (ironically enough) Big City. In Zombies it’s an obvious side deck pick for game 2, while for Big City the card is main-deck worthy to begin with, as it keeps the all-important Elemental Hero Stratos from being taken out of the equation.

That’s not all. Jordan Nassar made waves at Shonen Jump Championship Orlando, playing Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer alongside Gadgets and taking the concept to a Top 8 finish. The idea is nothing new—it’s been kicking around for ages in this format. But Nassar actually took the idea and ran with it all the way to Day 2, and that means we’ll be seeing more Kycoo in upcoming tournaments. Since Kycoo’s effect can be chained to by counter traps, it’s fair game to blow him away with Hero’s Rule 2, keeping your monster and destroying your opponent’s.

With more big graveyard plays (like Phantom of Chaos to copy Dark Armed Dragon) on the way, D.D. Crow will probably see even more play in the coming months than it already has. That makes Hero’s Rule 2 an enabling card that might keep several decks competitive, decks that would be lost to the ravages of a fast-developing metagame without it. Even outside of that limited scope, the card is a boon to any player skilled enough to play it over D.D. Crow, providing more flexibility in virtually any situation barring Morphing Jar or Malicious.

Quick-Play Spell
Each player sends 2 cards from their hand to the Graveyard and draws 2 cards.

Cycling cards, even at the cost of Hand Destruction itself, is a really powerful capability in a game that’s often too fast to be consistent. Combo decks usually revolve around getting to three or four particular cards, and that means the more cards they see, the easier it is for them to win. If they happen to gain a bonus by chucking something into the graveyard, well, that’s even better.

And frankly most of the upcoming OTK decks which run three copies of Hand Destruction do just that. Sure, ditching Destiny Hero - Malicious or Destiny Hero - Disk Commander for Destiny Draw is good, but Hand Destruction can let you do so much more since you can discard anything. More specifically, two "anythings." Why not toss some spell cards and win with multiple copies of Magical Explosion in your opponent’s first draw phase? Dump Destiny Hero - Plasma or Dark Armed Dragon as you accelerate toward Phantom of Chaos to copy them. Or send Valkyrion the Magna Warrior and a gigantic Fiend of your choice (like Evil Hero Malicious Edge or the really flashy Raviel, Lord of Phantasms) to the graveyard so that you can activate Dark Call and bring out a massive Evil Hero Dark Gaia?

Even in non-OTK decks, the ability to just dump a ton of cards into your graveyard seems to become more valuable with each passing day. Sure, get out Dark Armed Dragon as early as turn 1 or, for the more reasonable duelist, The Dark Creator on turn 2. Draw toward Card of Safe Return while filling your graveyard with Zombies, or pitch dead Dark World monsters on your way to Card Destruction—remember, you can get them back later with The Forces of Darkness anyway. Heck, it makes sense that it’s a Jesse card, too: pitch two Crystal Beasts and you can retrieve them with Crystal Blessing, subsidizing the loss of Hand Destruction. The card’s even chainable since it can be set and activated as a quick-play.

At its best, Hand Destruction is an essential part of killer OTK combos. But even at its worst, it’s still a lower-grade Destiny Draw for any deck that doesn’t have its own draw acceleration card, a premise that looks bad on paper but works surprisingly well in practice. Where you use this card is really only limited to your personal taste for risk, and that gives it a ton of potential that’s only going to grow as time passes.