The Tactical Evolution Sneak Previews have come and gone, and by now I’m sure you’re all getting accustomed to the newest set of cards. With 90 new cards, it’s the largest non-reprint expansion we’ve had in quite some time. It’s loaded with exclusive cards, secret rares, and one elusive ghost rare bearing the power of today’s featured card: Rainbow Dragon.
Our Hologram Overlord
The Rainbow Dragon is a card Jesse mentioned in his first duel with Jaden. Jaden had been hoping to see Jesse play it, and Jesse would have obliged him . . . if he actually had the card. Jesse may not have the card in his possession just yet, but we certainly do.
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned, except from your hand while you have 7 “Crystal Beast” cards with different names on the field or in your Graveyard. This card cannot activate its effects the turn it is Special Summoned.
* Send all “Crystal Beast” monsters you control to the Graveyard; this card gains 1000 ATK for each card sent. You can activate this effect during either player’s turn.
* You can remove from play all “Crystal Beast” Monster Cards in your Graveyard to return all cards on the field to their owners’ Decks.
Rainbow Dragon doesn’t actually have a cost applied to its special summon. Instead, it has what you can think of as a “threshold limit.” Once you meet the threshold limit, you can special summon your Rainbow Dragon from your hand during either of your main phases. The trick is actually meeting that threshold limit. In order to do so, you need the help of your Crystal Beasts.
Rainbow Dragon wants you to have seven Crystal Beast cards with different names. This means you need to have all seven of the Crystal Beasts on your side of the field and/or in your graveyard. It doesn’t matter if the Crystal Beast is a monster or in its “Crystallized” form, so you have a bit of flexibility in this regard. This is still going to be a challenge, even with the inclusion of “Crystallized” Crystal Beasts.
Special summoning the Rainbow Dragon is a lot like special summoning a Cyber Dragon. It’s not an activated effect and it doesn’t use the chain. You perform the special summon in essentially the same way you would perform a normal summon (except, you know, it’s a special summon). Your opponent can’t decide to “chain” a card like D.D. Crow and try to remove a Crystal Beast in your graveyard from play, because it is not possible to chain to a summon.
Rainbow Dragon immediately serves as a 4000 ATK, rainbow-colored beatstick. It doesn’t have much of a choice, because its DEF isn’t going to do it any good. Its first effect furthers this goal considerably, giving you a way to increase its ATK during both your turn and your opponent’s. As a cost to activate the effect, you send all Crystal Beast monsters on your side of the field to the graveyard. (Remember, they must be monsters.) Each of these monsters adds up to an extra 1000 ATK for smashing. Rainbow Dragon already has a game-ending 4000 ATK, but these extra points can be very helpful in ensuring that the duel is over. Being able to use the effect during either player’s battle phase helps too.
However, if things aren’t working out quite as well as you’d like, you can hit the almighty Rainbow Dragon reset button! All it costs you is every Crystal Beast monster in your graveyard. When the Rainbow Dragon’s effect resolves, it takes every card on the field (including itself) and returns them to their owner’s deck. While this effect may not leave you with a 4000 ATK beatstick to dish out some powerful blows, it does clear off your opponent’s field.
Rainbow Jar?
What you do with this open field is up to you. Unlike Rainbow Dragon’s first effect, its second effect can only be used during your own turn. You can’t “Fiber Jar” everyone back into their owner’s deck during your opponent’s turn, so you need to have the right motivation for making this play. Some players might think of taking advantage of their removed-from-play Crystal Beasts through the use of cards like Return from the Different Dimension or Dimension Fusion. Dimension Fusion certainly has a great deal of merit, but Return from the Different Dimension doesn’t work out quite so well.
Rainbow Dragon’s second effect is an ignition effect, spell speed 1. Any effect used in response to the Rainbow Dragon will be placed higher on the chain. This means that any effect chained to Rainbow Dragon’s effect will resolve before the Rainbow Dragon can bounce everyone off the field. You need to remember this when you plan on using its second effect, because you can unintentionally cause yourself a good deal of harm if you don’t.
What would you do if you had Return from the Different Dimension set on your side of the field and you decided to activate Rainbow Dragon’s effect? You might be thinking about chaining it, to try and get those Crystal Beasts you removed from play out onto the field. While this will get a lot of Crystal Beasts deployed, the effect of Rainbow Dragon would resolve next and return them all to your deck. In some situations this might actually make a lot of sense, but not if you were expecting to actually attack with the Crystal Beast monsters. For a smashing follow-up attack, Dimension Fusion will usually work best. Sure, your opponent can bring out a few monsters of his or her own, but at least you’re in a position to deal with them.
What would happen if your opponent responded to Rainbow Dragon’s effect with something that destroys Rainbow Dragon? As far as Rainbow Dragon’s effect is concerned—nothing. Removing Rainbow Dragon from the field or destroying it won’t do anything to interfere with its effect. Your opponent will need to look at cards that are actually capable of negating monster effects.
Next week, we continue on with more cards from Tactical Evolution. Until then, send all comments and questions to Curtis@metagame.com