“Would you like 1000 damage with that Smashing Ground?”

The newest Structure Deck, Spellcaster’s Judgment, features the legendary Spellcaster monster type, and brings us six new cards and a strong gathering of some of our favorite Spellcaster monsters. But only one monster stands tall as the deck’s grand master, the deck’s ultimate summon. That monster is Dark Eradicator Warlock.

For quick reference, here’s the text of Dark Eradicator Warlock. “This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by Tributing 1 "Dark Magician" on your side of the field. While this card is face-up on the field, inflict 1000 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points each time either player activates 1 Normal Spell Card.”

It all begins with the Pharaoh’s legendary monster, Dark Magician. If you have Dark Magician on your side of the field, you can special summon Dark Eradicator Warlock during your main phase by tributing Dark Magician. Now you have Dark Eradicator Warlock in play, and the real fun can begin.

While Dark Eradicator Warlock is under your control, your opponent will receive 1000 points of damage to his or her life points every time a normal spell card is activated. It doesn’t matter which player is responsible for activating that normal spell card. Dark Eradicator Warlock only cares that the normal spell card’s been activated.

Just how often will we see normal spell cards in a duel? If you’ve been following Metagame.com’s coverage of the Shonen Jump Championship tournaments, you’ll notice that cards like Smashing Ground, Swords of Revealing Light, Heavy Storm, Nobleman of Crossout, Reinforcement of the Army, and Brain Control all show up quite often. The game of Yu-Gi-Oh! is loaded with normal spell cards, and I’ve only named a few of them.

Should you allow your Dark Eradicator Warlock to rely entirely upon your opponent’s normal spell cards? Why should you, when your normal spell cards will do the job just as well? With the right selection of normal spell cards, we can take full advantage of Dark Eradicator Warlock’s effect.

Using normal spell cards that already inflict damage to your opponent’s life points works well with the effect of Dark Eradicator Warlock. Adding an extra 1000 points of damage to Tremendous Fire and Meteor of Destruction will allow each card to effectively inflict 2000 points of damage, instead of their standard 1000 points of damage.

When we really look at Dark Eradicator Warlock’s effect and its potential to interact with normal spell cards, more multi-functional combinations are possible. Some normal spell cards have functions that were already useful on their own, but an added 1000 points of damage makes them even more powerful.

Goblin Thief, from Dark Revelations 2, normally creates a 1000-point differential between you and your opponent’s life points by inflicting 500 points of damage to your opponent’s life points and increasing yours by 500. With Dark Eradicator Warlock, this differential is made even larger with the additional 1000 points of damage from its effect. By activating Goblin Thief, you will gain 500 life points and your opponent will take a total of 1500 points of damage, creating a 2000-point differential.

Toon Table of Contents from Dark Beginnings 2 is commonly used as a method of “deck thinning.” A player will activate one copy of Toon Table of Contents, search his or her deck for another copy, and then activate the newly obtained copy, repeating the cycle until every Toon Table of Contents in the deck is used up. The cycle often ends with the selection of Toon Cannon Soldier, due to its functional uses for quick damage.

We could also use this strategy with Dark Eradicator Warlock, but with a different purpose in mind. Each time Toon Table of Contents is activated, Dark Eradicator Warlock will inflict 1000 points of damage to our opponent’s life points. Toon Table of Contents is then used to find another copy of Toon Table of Contents, which in turn is also activated, and the opponent receives another 1000 points of damage. After completing the cycle, you’ve inflicted 3000 points of damage to your opponent and you have a Toon Cannon Soldier in your hand that can be used for even more damage during the course of the duel.

Swords of Revealing Light and Nightmare’s Steel Cage normally only function to delay the opponent from attacking, allowing their controller to buy more time and prepare a proper offense. With Dark Eradicator Warlock in play, this tactic also inflicts 1000 points of damage to the opponent. This may not seem like much for Swords of Revealing Light, because it’s limited to one copy per deck and is less likely to appear, but for the unlimited Nightmare’s Steel Cage, this is a great windfall.

Not sure what Nightmare’s Steel Cage is? Fret not, because my fellow Metagame.com writer Jerome McHale will tell you all about it.

Diffusion-Wave Motion, the high level Spellcaster-type monster’s strongest weapon, costs you 1000 life points to activate. Your Dark Eradicator Warlock is already going to benefit from its power, so why not use it and also inflict 1000 points of damage to the opponent’s life points? The added damage helps to balance out the invested cost, and the following attacks gained from its effect will take your offense even further.

Our final support card isn’t even a normal spell card at all. It’s the trap card Curse of Darkness. Now, I’m sure that many of you are thinking, “But that will stop me from playing spell cards. Why would I do that?”

It’s true that this combination discourages you from playing spell cards, but you should also keep in mind that it does the same to your opponent. While this combination is in place, if your opponent plays a normal spell card, he or she will receive 2000 points of damage, and that’s a considerable amount. Your opponent could certainly use another type of spell card instead, but that will still result in 1000 points of damage. Either way, when you use this combo, your opponent will need to think carefully about playing any spell cards at all.

When you’re playing Dark Eradicator Warlock, you’ll need to remember two important characteristics that affect how it works.

First, Dark Eradicator Warlock cannot be special summoned unless you follow the exact method that’s written in its text. Even if Dark Eradicator Warlock is successfully special summoned and then sent to the graveyard, you still won’t be able to special summon it. With this in mind, you’ll want to protect your investment, because once it’s gone it won’t come back without a good deal of effort.

Second, if the activation of a normal spell card is negated by cards like Magic Jammer or Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell, your opponent will not receive any damage from Dark Eradicator Warlock’s effect.

Until next time, send all comments, suggestions, and observations to Curtis@metagame.com.