Over the course of last week, Jason and I gave you a little sample of what the counter-trap-oriented Fairies are like. Today, that theme continues with these two new monsters.

Herald of Green Light

LIGHT
Level 2

Fairy/Effect

ATK: 300

DEF: 500

Send this card and 1 other Fairy-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of your opponent's Spell Card and destroy it. This effect can be used during any player's turn.

Herald of Purple Light

LIGHT
Level 2

Fairy/Effect

ATK: 300

DEF: 500

Send this card and 1 other Fairy-Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of your opponent's Trap Card and destroy it. This effect can be used during any player's turn.

First, aren’t those names awesome? Notice that the individual Heralds are the same colors of light of the cards that they negate (spell cards are green, while trap cards are purple).

Continuing the theme from last week, these Fairies are here to stop your opponent from resolving key spells and traps. They’re harbingers of denial, and they’re telling your opponent that he or she is in for a really annoying battle. However, these two monsters also have some costly effects, since you’re losing two cards (both cards are required to be Fairies) to stop one of your opponent’s cards. So why would you use them in your counter-based deck? Well, the versatility of a monster that can also be used as a counter gives you a variety of options. When you’re running the Heralds, you’ll optimally want to use them for their effects... both of which are multi-trigger effects, similar to Strike Ninja. This makes the Heralds’ abilities spell speed 2.

Spell speed 2 denial cards come in extremely handy when you’re stuck going second. Unfortunately, this means that your opponent was able to set cards into his or her spell or trap zone. If your opponent is able to resolve a first turn Royal Decree against you, there’s very little chance of making a comeback if you’re playing a counter-Fairy deck (which should typically consist of around fifteen or more trap cards). Herald of Purple Light gives you a weapon for fighting back against a seemingly unstoppable first turn Royal Decree. Because these monsters do not possess the properties of a set card in the spell or trap zone, you can negate and destroy the activations of a variety of cards without delay.

These two monsters go beyond simply stopping a potentially game-wrecking first turn. One of the disadvantages to running numerous counter-traps is that you give your opponent information on how many cards you have available on the field to deal with his or her activated cards. The Heralds create an invisible threat to your opponent’s turn by allowing you to stop threatening cards even if you don’t have many spell or trap cards face-down on your field.

This means that when your opponent is going through his or her turn (or whenever he or she wishes to activate a crucial spell or trap card), he or she needs to consider whether or not you can get rid of that card with a Herald Fairy. The best part about this situation is that he or she has absolutely no way of figuring that out as long as you have more than one card in your hand. The opponent’s only real option is to look at your hand through an effect such as Confiscation. Otherwise, you can smirk at your opponent even while holding onto four irrelevant cards. (You may know you are holding a total bust, but your opponent doesn’t.)

Tactical advantages aside, the Herald Fairies do come at a loss of card presence against your opponent (you are losing two cards compared to your opponent’s one). This can make the Heralds problematic, but a little creativity in the deck-building stage may help you to resolve the issue. In fact, I can assure you that there are ways to use the Heralds that will cause every opponent you play to throw up his or her cards in frustration. Of course, that could be a good or bad thing. While you can be winning games with a solid control deck, other duelists who don’t want to play against your deck may avoid playing you. But then again, if you’re playing a denial-intensive deck, odds are good that you only care about playing it in a competitive tournament, right?

That’s all from me for this round of Sneak Previews. Be sure to check out an Enemy of Justice Sneak Preview event near you. Attendees can receive a load of free stuff, including the Toon Dark Magician Girl promo card. You’ll also get first dibs on the new cards from the Enemy of Justice set, which is reason enough to attend one of the Sneak Preview events!