When we got our sneak preview assignments for Strike of Neos, the first thing I wanted to do was talk with some of the other writers so we could discuss how cool the new cards were. While I loved my assignments (since Dark World is obviously the best theme ever*) I have to admit that Matt Peddle’s cards excited me more. I seriously cannot emphasize how amazing a card like D.D. Crow can be. This little Winged-Beast is quite possibly one of the best cards to be released for the Traditional format in ages. However, as much as I like the new Crow, The Transmigration Prophecy excites me a whole lot more.

One of the most powerful aspects of The Transmigration Prophecy is its versatility. This card can do a lot. When you are running low on cards, it can be used to shuffle back two key cards from your graveyard into your deck so that you may draw them again soon. If your opponent plays a card or effect that triggers in the graveyard, or targets a card there, you can respond by shuffling back that specific card into your opponent’s deck. This essentially nullifies many powerful cards, such as Treeborn Frog, Pot of Avarice, Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World, Premature Burial . . . I could go on for quite a while.

The trick that I find most nifty about The Transmigration Prophecy, however, is its ability to keep you from ever decking out when you shuffle another copy of the card back into your deck. While this may not seem very practical, it can actually be the basis for quite a few deck ideas that want to either go to the late game, or simply blast through their decks as quickly as possible.

The first concept I thought about using with The Transmigration Prophecy was a favorite deck of mine: Tim Willoughby’s “Ghandipants” (or just “Jar”). For those of you unfamiliar with this deck, it is a control deck based almost entirely on flip effects. It utilizes cards like Mask of Darkness, Swarm of Locusts and Swarm of Scarabs, and the key inclusion of three copies of Morphing Jar #2. The deck also runs some Needle Worm cards and a Morphing Jar to emphasize a deck-out strategy. The goal is to prevent any sort of action taking place in the battle phase. Morphing Jar #2 combined with Desert Sunlight is one of the key battle phase enders of the deck, and it also allows you to trigger multiple flip effects like Mask of Darkness before resetting your field back to face-down position. Plays like this reward you with a turn where your opponent doesn’t attack, along with a lot of beneficial effects provided by all of your flip effects. Eventually, your opponent will deck out due to Morphing Jar #2 and Needle Worm.

The deck is one of my favorites since its control is really tough to break without solid disruption like Exiled Force. It also punishes a lot of decks for even thinking about attacking. This concept formed into a very solid control deck that could put the game into stasis, and keep anyone from doing . . . well, anything! Unfortunately, some powerful tools have been lost from the deck since the last time I looked at it, including Tsukuyomi and Magician of Faith. However, The Transmigration Prophecy bolsters this deck’s power quite a bit. While it may have problems with a lack of spell-recursion, its use of The Transmigration Prophecy allows you to shuffle back key spell cards, or even flip effects if you’ve lost them to your opponent’s removal cards earlier. More importantly, The Transmigration Prophecy keeps you from decking out unless your opponent has a card that will directly force you to draw out the last cards of your deck, such as Morphing Jar or Card Destruction. Not only will you be able to wait out your opponent’s moves, you will also be able to shuffle back another card of your choice. If you are down to only two or three cards in your deck, The Transmigration Prophecy will almost act like card recursion: activate it, shuffle back another copy of The Transmigration Prophecy, and then shuffle back a card you want in one or two turns. It’s sort of like Different Dimension Capsule, only without the vulnerabilities, and with the ability to wreck graveyard-based effects from your opponent.

Running The Transmigration Prophecy in Ghandipants also makes Magical Merchant a much more appealing option. Normally, I would consider this effect a little too risky because it can cost you one too many necessary monsters. However, a couple of copies of The Shallow Grave can resuscitate the integral monsters that get pitched to the little Insect’s effect. The Transmigration Prophecy can shuffle back those key flip effect monsters if you are in a bind and really need them (either on their own, or as a potential special summon with Morphing Jar #2). Magical Merchant can also help you find The Transmigration Prophecy faster, and will generally help you pursue your goal of having a very small and easy-to-manipulate deck.

Speaking of manipulating a small deck, Magical Merchant is simply amazing with The Transmigration Prophecy for more than just one strategy. The old Merchant Pot Turbo deck (which ran three copies of Magical Merchant and Pot of Avarice in order to recycle Chaos Sorcerer and only the most potent spells and traps) now has some newfound power. The Transmigration Prophecy acts as a recursion card for Pot of Avarice, while Magical Merchant blows through your deck at lightning speed when you are running more than the average number of monsters. This sort of strategy may make toolboxing certain spells and traps a viable strategy: you’ll be able to get through your deck so quickly that you can dig to them in mere turns!

There is certainly more to The Transmigration Prophecy than first meets the eye. As a two-of in certain decks, it can act as a counter to graveyard-based effects. So many competitive strategies want to take advantage of graveyard contents, and this new trap card can really throw a wrench in these strategies. In addition, The Transmigration Prophecy serves as a powerful deck-manipulation tool if you can get your deck down to ten cards or less (either through more mundane means, such as a control deck that just plays for a very late game, or through a splashy strategy that uses Jars and Merchants to grind through cards at an extremely fast pace).

While The Transmigration Prophecy doesn’t immediately stand out when compared to other power cards from Strike of Neos, it has the feeling of becoming a real sleeper hit in the next six months. Try out a couple of decks that can use and abuse this card. It’s a lot more powerful than it first appears.

*Okay, that’s a stretch. There are some themes that I like more than Dark World. However, I do feel like I’m doing some really mean things when I destroy cards and then get to special summon beatsticks as a “downside.”