“Victory is assured when we work together.” —Marauding Captain
Just as we learned from Ancient Sanctuary, knowing how cards in Soul of the Duelist combine together is beneficial for both Constructed and Sealed Pack. For this week’s article, I'll apply the same method used for Ancient Sanctuary to dissect a variety of combinations in Soul of the Duelist.
Two-Card Combinations
Set-Up: Ectoplasmer is a super rare. Malice Doll of Demise is a common.
Execution: The process at work here is simple. Malice Doll of Demise’s effect was made for Ectoplasmer, creating a monster that can be tributed for Ectoplasmer and return again during your next standby phase. The main problem with this tactic is the loss of Malice Doll of Demise until your next standby phase, which necessitates keeping another line of defense during this process.
Set-Up: Mind on Air is a rare. Abyssal Designator is a common.
Execution: This combination has two limitations. It will cost you 1000 life points, and it’s sure to be successful only if you aim for cards in your opponent’s hand. With this in mind, the goal of this combination is to use Mind on Air’s effect to choose the correct type and attribute of a monster in your opponent’s hand you want to see gone. That sounds good, but there is one problem—your opponent may have a monster with the named attribute and type in his or her deck that can be sent the to graveyard instead.
With this many limitations, this combination cannot be fully trusted.
Set-Up: Mind on Air is a rare. Mind Crush is a common.
Execution: With Mind on Air, the effect of Mind Crush is guaranteed. Mind on Air allows you to see every card in your opponent’s hand, helping you to better time the use of Mind Crush to inflict as much hand-destroying damage as possible. You may need to use this to bring a rampaging Enraged Muka Muka down a notch or two.
Set-Up: Absolute End is a common. Spirit Barrier is a rare. This combination requires one monster on your side of the field.
Execution: Spirit Barrier is used to protect your life points from battle damage as long as you still control a monster on the field. While this works well for you, it does nothing to protect your monster. That is where Absolute End steps in.
Absolute End makes all of your opponent’s attacks during his or her battle phase direct attacks. Combined with Spirit Barrier, you will not take any damage and your monster will be safe from attacks.
This combination will work well if you have Mystic Swordsman LV4. You cannot normal summon Mystic Swordsman LV4 in any traditional sense, and so are forced to normal summon it into face-down defense position (sounds a lot like setting it, doesn’t it?). In Booster Draft, there is a chance that Mystic Swordsman LV4’s 1600 DEF will be enough to protect it from attacks, but if your opponent has a strong enough monster in play, you may want to use the Absolute End + Spirit Barrier combination to protect it.
This combination can be used with other LV monsters as well, like Armed Dragon and Horus the Black Flame Dragon.
Multi-Card Combinations
Malice Doll of Demise + Ectoplasmer + Two-Man Cell Battle + Level 4 Normal Monsters + Dark Factory of Mass Production
Set-Up: Malice Doll of Demise, Two-Man Cell Battle, and Dark Factory of Mass Production are commons. Ectoplasmer is a super rare.
Execution: Using the same method from the Malice Doll of Demise and Ectoplasmer combination, this combo mixes in the Two-Man Cell Battle and Dark Factory of Mass Production to make up for the loss of defenders inherent in the previous combination. Two-Man Cell Battle allows you to special summon a level 4 Normal Monster during your end phase. By doing this, you can keep a monster in play despite the loss of Malice Doll of Demise to Ectoplasmer. Dark Factory of Mass Production is used to reclaim two of the level 4 normal monsters from your graveyard when they are needed to try to keep up your defenses. Keep in mind that Ectoplasmer will go after the level 4 normal monster you summon from Two-Man Cell Battle, unless an alternative exists on the field, which is hopefully your Malice Doll of Demise.
Set-Up: Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke and Spirit Barrier are rare. Ninjitsu Art of Decoy and Taunt are commons.
Execution: The goal of this combination is to combine the protection afforded to Ninjas by Ninjitsu Art of Decoy with the life point protection of Spirit Barrier. Having 1800 ATK, Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke isn’t entirely vulnerable in Booster Draft, but this combination will aid the Grandmaster against the stronger tribute monsters in Soul of the Duelist.
Taunt is added to this combination to focus your opponent’s attacks on Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, thus protecting your other monsters from battle damage.
Set-Up: Ultimate Baseball Kid and Dark Factory of Mass Production are commons. Charcoal Inpachi is a rare.
Execution: Ultimate Baseball Kid can be used to send a Fire monster you control to the graveyard and inflict damage to your opponent. Depending on the situation, you may want to use this with Charcoal Inpachi to do some damage, and then use Dark Factory of Mass Production to bring them back.
This combination has several issues. First of all, you will need at least one other normal monster in the graveyard to use Dark Factory of Mass Production. If you are missing this, the combination stops. This combination also isn’t as functional without multiple Fire monsters.
Big Wave, Small Wave + Unshaven Angler + Mobius the Frost Monarch/Neo Aqua Madoor
Set-Up: Big Wave, Small Wave; Unshaven Angler; and Neo Aqua Madoor are commons. Mobius the Frost Monarch is a super rare.
Execution: The object of this combination is to replace the Unshaven Angler with the stronger Water monsters Neo Aqua Madoor and Mobius the Frost Monarch in one turn. Getting them all together at once will be the most difficult task. Big Wave, Small Wave will prove more useful in Constructed, where you have more monsters to choose from and can easily reclaim Water monsters for the combo using cards like Salvage.