The Dark attribute is a very powerful one as evidenced by years of competitive play, and the Phantom Darkness booster set is unlikely to disappoint fans of cohesive themes, since it provides many previously existing archetypes with amazing support cards. More succinctly, it’s unlikely to disappoint anyone who has ever played the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, ever. While some people will be disappointed that the next Yu-Gi-Oh! pack they open does not contain some substantially large notes of their respective national currencies and perhaps a ticket to Hawai’i, the majority of us can settle for some amazing cards.

When I checked my e-mail on the glorious first day of a new year, I got a very nice kick-off to 2008 from the Metagame.com editors. It may be late, but here is a New Year’s present for you from our good friends at Konami and Upper Deck.

Dark Armed Dragon
Dragon / Effect
Dark / Level 7
2800 ATK / 1000 DEF
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by having exactly 3 DARK monsters in your Graveyard. You can remove from play 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard to destroy any card on the field.

I have already used the phrase "homonym to decimation" once in my various musings here at Metagame.com, so it is rather unfortunate that I cannot use it here without repeating myself. I’m tempted again to simply leave the card and run off, but I’d like to think I’m more professional than that, so here I go.

Any cards you may have already seen from Phantom Darkness might give you some idea of how cohesive the central theme is. We can all agree there are plenty of good Dark monsters, and finding a theme devoted to using the cream of the crop alongside a series of new powerful ones (with effects bordering on the ludicrous) is kind of what makes Phantom Darkness such an awesome, awesome set. I mean, this card kind of reminds me of Harpie’s Feather Duster and Raigeki all at once . . . with 2800 ATK attached as a little bonus. At the very least, you can destroy three cards just for summoning the Dragon.

So the question of what you can do with this is kind of silly. Once you’ve met the conditions, you can simply plop it on the field and then plop your opponent’s cards off the field with the Dark monsters you have to have in your graveyard to summon it. The hyperbolist in me likes to imagine the placing of this card on the field: it would sound like the slam of a leaden coffin lid on the engraved sarcophagus your opponent will soon be inhabiting, and the echoes of that deep, booming death sentence will sound like the revving of an engine of metal and bone, eager to fulfill its role as the dark harbinger of the end of days. The pragmatist in me says it will simply be the small flicking sound of one piece of cardboard placed on a table or otherwise flat surface, followed by a groan from the person sitting across from you, or perhaps a gasp. Or perhaps it will be the sound of friction between that player’s cards, his or her hand, and the playing surface you’re using as the opponent scoops because this card has probably just won you the game.

Since the card explains itself, I’ll put away my weapons of hyperbole (dubiously dubbed hyperballistae by the Ministry of Bad Puns*) so that I may talk about some of the things that work well with this. Since that list consists of every Dark monster previously printed, I’ll split them into three groups to start, and let your imagination pick up the odd ones I may have missed.

1) Pre-existing stand-alone monsters: using Mystic Tomato creates some rather decent synergy with this, especially when combined with something like Snipe Hunter, Don Zaloog, or Spirit Reaper. Any sort of field or hand disruption works well with Dark Armed Dragon, since the more cards your opponent has on the field, the more that player is forced to devote to it to either prevent the loss of the game (I’ll take "Futile Efforts" for $800, Alex) or prevent the loss of more cards from hand. And the more you get to enjoy the sweet, sweet sound of the opponent’s sobbing. Since Snipe Hunter can also discard Dark monsters to the graveyard, it helps in two ways, and once you’ve used Dark Armed Dragon, hand disruption is even better since it puts pressure on your opponent to put more cards on the field so he or she can get wasted by Dark Armed Dragon.

Jinzo can protect the Dragon when it comes out. Blowback Dragon can supplement your field destruction. Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, in an odd case of a multi-purpose card fulfilling all of its intended roles at once, can protect your graveyard from removal so you can actually put this card on the field and punish the average Monarch deck. I’m fairly certain that the many decks benefiting from cards that have a slight ring of familiarity to them (Breaker the Magical Warrior, Sangan, Gravekeeper’s Spy, and others) can attest to the fact that there are plenty of good Dark monsters that can contribute to your success regardless of further deck construction necessary to support them as well as your copies of Dark Armed Dragon.

Speaking of further support . . .

2) Pre-existing themes: I’m fairly certain that the thought of a Strike Ninja deck using recruiters and Cold Wave brings all of you a little bit of happiness. Or perhaps just a Dark aggro deck using Cold Wave and other genius ideas? Heck, the idea of Cold Wave alongside this guy woke me up better than buckets of ice water or small thimble-sized servings of very expensive coffee ever could.

3) Recruiters or cards that have replaced themselves: it’s pretty obvious, but using Apprentice Magician, Gravekeeper’s Spy, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, or Mystic Tomato will make this even better.

One thing a curious observer might ask is what the awesome support I previously mentioned in Phantom Darkness is, and unfortunately, while my contract allows me to slay Uber-Dragons of Chimeravaldt (much to their chagrin and mutual distaste I might add), I can’t spoil an entire set for you. It just isn’t fair, and since I got what is quite possibly the coolest card in the set, I’m more than willing to let them show you the rest since this is the kind of awesome reminiscent of finding a $5 bill or 5€ note in the wash. Since I have had the luxury of seeing a bit of the set, I can tell you to expect many more exciting things. The Dark theme supported by Phantom Darkness is sure to overshadow some other things that don’t shine quite so brightly.**