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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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"Oh no! It can’t be! A tribute summon! There must be something I can do . . . but what?”
OK, so I’ve been playing a little too much Power of Chaos on my PC. It’s article research . . . yeah, that’s it. The one thing Yugi can do in that situation, though, is buy a box of Invasion of Chaos.
Invasion of Chaos has just been released at the time of the writing of this article, and the buzz around the set has been incredible—for good reason. This article will not review the entire set, but instead will focus on the expected impact it will have on the metagame, especially due to CED. If you don't know what "CED" is yet, or you haven't seen it in action, you will, soon.
Where are we now?
There have been many Regional tournaments since the first one on January 3. One disappointing trend is that the deck variety is going down among the top duelists, at least up to the release of Invasion of Chaos. I think one reason for this trend is that top players were willing to experiment and test deck types in the beginning of the year. With each Regional, more duelists focused on securing a spot at the National tournament. The safe bet prior to the new set was a best-of-breed Beatdown-Control hybrid. Players will build more original decks when new cards are released and then slowly but surely gravitate to what seems to work best. "Seems" is the operative word. The good news is that several deck types may start to do very well with the release of Invasion of Chaos.
It really is interesting to play the PC game Power of Chaos in the context of the current metagame. It reflects the progression of the real game over the last year. When Yu-Gi-Oh! was first released, and for the first couple of sets, almost all the action was on the field, particularly in monster battles. Now we have Invasion of Chaos, and when you combine it with previous sets, you get a metagame in which the “battle” is fought everywhere. The battle is now fought to gain advantage of all sorts—hand, field, deck, and life point—with cards both in and out of play.
The graveyard has taken a more prominent role in many deck strategies, much like the strategy Exodia players have had to use. However, the strategy will be to get Light and Dark monsters into it so that you can remove them from play to special summon monsters. More importantly, you have to be able to defend against or prevent that summoning if you play against such a deck. To add some spice, there are cards such as Dimension Fusion that allow you to return the removed monsters to the field as special summons.
The Chaos Monsters
Invasion of Chaos introduces the Chaos Monsters: Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End and Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning.
Both have ATK 3000/DEF2500, and both are special summoned by removing one Light and one Dark monster from the graveyard. Both have game-breaking effects, but all are spell speed 1 and can only be used during the controller’s turn.
 So how do you get the Light and Dark monsters into the graveyard? When that’s what you’re trying to do, Painful Choice doesn’t seem so painful after all. In fact, it’s actually a joy. While cards such as Graceful Charity, Card Destruction, Cyber Jar, and Morphing Jar (to name a few) can get Light and Dark monsters into the graveyard, Painful Choice is the card you want. Why? Because you control the cards sent to the graveyard. Select two Light monsters, two Dark monsters, and Sinister Serpent. Now, which does your opponent pick to let you keep? If you have CED in your hand, then it just doesn't matter. Painful Choice has always been a decent card, but it’s a must for a Chaos deck.
Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End
The “star” of Invasion of Chaos is Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End (CED for short). The card is simply amazing. It is relatively easy to summon for a bruiser monster—all you have to do is remove one Light and one Dark monster from the graveyard. With Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s ATK/DEF specs, it’s an offensive powerhouse. However, its effect is what makes it so powerful.
Here’s the quick story: Summon it, activate its effect after paying 1000 life points, resolve its effect, and send all cards in both players’ hands and all cards (including CED) on the field to the graveyard. The sweetener is that the opponent takes 300 life points of damage for each card sent to the graveyard. If you had Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest on the field, resolve the effect, get Yata-Garasu, and win.
My guess is that some players will blow themselves up a few times with CED and get hammered by the opponent, then complain that the card is not all that great. A similar thing happened with Yata-Garasu and Magical Scientist—initially, many players didn't appreciate their full potential because they didn't know how to use them.
CED is not just about getting Yata lock, although that will be the combo that people hear the most about. There are many combinations with this card, and it can have a prominent place in Burn decks, Dragon decks (yes, they can now be competitive), and many other deck types.
 Interdimensional Matter Transporter is especially good in decks with CED, and it’s also good at defending against them. It can be chained to the effect of CED to ensure you will have a monster on the field at the end of the turn. In addition to Interdimensional Matter Transporter, cards such as Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer and Necrovalley help by preventing your opponent from removing cards from the graveyard to summon CED.
With experience, players will respect and fear CED. It will probably be quickly restricted to one copy per deck. Regardless, I suspect it will be a major factor in decks at Nationals.
Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
This one is my personal favorite. No, it doesn’t blow up the field and hands, but it can attack twice in a row as long as it destroyed a monster during the first attack. If that wasn’t good enough, it can be used to remove one monster on the field from play, although you cannot attack for that turn or use the effect if you have already attacked.
I am not sure how players are going to respond to this card. It may end up being underrated. Regardless, it is a great card in my view.
Relatively Chaos?
A weaker Chaos monster is Chaos Sorcerer, a 2300 ATK/2000 DEF Spellcaster that is summoned just like the other Chaos monsters. You can use its effect once per turn to remove a face up monster from play with the same restriction on attacking that turn as Black Luster Soldier. Chaos Sorcerer is weaker in all respects than Black Luster Soldier, but the Sorcerer is also a common.
Dark Magician of Chaos is a great card, but in my mind, it’s not a Chaos monster since it is not special summoned in the same way as the other ones. Its effects are definitely game breaking though. It removes monsters from play that it destroys in battle, although it is removed from play if it is destroyed or removed from the field. The Magician’s main effect is that you can add a spell card from your graveyard to your hand when it is normal or special summoned.
I’m sure you can think of key spell cards that can be retrieved, but the most powerful combo is to use Painful Choice (again) to get two or three copies of Dark Magician of Chaos into the Graveyard. Use Monster Reborn on it, and then use the effect of Dark Magician of Chaos to get Monster Reborn back again. Revive another Magician, and use its effect to get a useful removal card. Having two or three 2800 ATK monsters on the field is never a bad thing.
How Other Decks Fare
There is something in the new set for most deck types, but not all. I’m going to highlight a few of the tournament decks affected by Invasion of Chaos.
 Rising Tide
I will be surprised if we don't see a flood of Water decks hit the tournament scene. This Beatdown deck type gets a huge boost from this set in my view. Some of the fourteen Water monsters in the set are:
Giga Gagagigo, a Short Pack common, is a level 5, 2450 ATK monster with no effect. With A Legendary Ocean active, that is one strong monster to summon without tribute.
Levia-Dragon – Daedalus is a level 7, 2600 ATK monster that allows you to send an Umi on your side of the field to the graveyard to destroy all cards on the field except this one. With A Legendary Ocean active, it’s a great monster to summon (for only one tribute) to get a 2600 direct attack.
Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 is a level 4, Water-attribute Machine (a rusty bucket?) with a 1500 ATK that can attack your opponent’s life points directly if Umi is on the field. If you can protect it, this common can be a game-winning card.
Insects
A few Insect decks may crawl out of the woodwork, thanks to good effect cards such as Insect Princess and Pinch Hopper released in Invasion of Chaos. We also now have a level 4, 1800 ATK/1700 DEF Insect: Neo Bug. DNA Surgery is still needed to take full advantage of "Insect power," though. While interesting, my guess is that this deck type will be exterminated by the time of Nationals. I hope that a skilled and courageous duelist proves me wrong.
Rituals
I’ve found Ritual decks to be fun but really slow. Up until now, they have had limited impact on the tournament scene. Ritual decks are now more playable thanks to Manju of Ten Thousand Hands. Basically, Manju combines the effects of Sonic Bird and Senju of a Thousand Hands so that you can search for either a ritual spell card or a ritual monster. Manju is a Light monster. Contract with the Abyss lets you ritual summon any dark ritual monster if you offer monsters with level stars that exactly total the level of summoned monster. Light and Dark—seems that there could be some decent deck built around rituals and Chaos monsters.
Earth Upgrades
Invasion of Chaos has seriously upgraded Earth decks. Gigantes is an evolved form of Rock Spirit—a stable 1900 ATK monster that will clear the field of spell and trap cards if it is destroyed in battle.
Berserk Gorilla is a Level 4, 2000 ATK monster. The downside? It is destroyed if shifted to face up defense position, and it must attack if it can. That’s not much of a downside in the grand scheme of things. It also fits nicely into Beast/Beast Warrior decks as well as other Beatdown decks.
Warriors
Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning is the leading Warrior, but other Warriors have potential for tournament play. Hayabusa Knight is now an obsolete soldier unless you need 1000 ATK for an effect, such as using Secret Pass to the Treasures in combination with it. Mataza the Zapper has the same effect, but with a 1300 ATK and the additional effect that control of it can’t be shifted to your opponent—very handy if you have equipped it with United We Stand.
Freed the Brave Wanderer is a Light 1700 ATK/1200 DEF Warrior with a mediocre effect. You can remove two Light monsters from your graveyard to destroy one face up monster with a higher current ATK than this card. There are obviously much better ways to remove a monster. However, it is a Light Warrior.
Chaosrider Gustaph is a 1400 ATK/1500DEF Warrior than can boost its attack up to 2000 by removing up to two spell cards (300 ATK boost per spell card) from the graveyard. The effect lasts until the end of the opponent’s next turn and makes efficient use of the graveyard.
 Sasuke Samurai #3 is an interesting card. It is a 1000 ATK/1000 DEF Warrior that makes your opponent draw until he or she has seven cards. That may be useful in combination with effects such as CED or Des Koala, but it’s not for the faint of heart. I doubt it will see a lot of tournament play, but could be used by a top player that can handle a “tech deck” effectively.
Strike Ninja will be most likely getting little play until duelists realize how effective it can be against CED and other mass removal effects. A 1700 ATK Dark Warrior, it can be removed from play until the end of the turn the effect is activated by removing two Dark monsters. Since it can be used on either player’s turn, I suspect this card will see more play by the time of Nationals (depending, or course, on what rulings are issued on it).
Manticore of Darkness
I’ll cover this deck type separately in a future article. I believe this card and Beast/Beast Warrior decks in general may be overlooked based on the hype over the Chaos monsters. A 2300 ATK monster that can be special summoned from the graveyard during the end phase by sending a Beast, Beast Warrior, or Winged Beast type monster to the graveyard is decent, especially considering that it can be summoned if sent to the graveyard from the field, hand, or deck. This card and decks built around it have great potential. Manticore of Darkness can be abused, until it is restricted at least. Use Painful Choice (again) and select three copies of Manticore of Darkness and two Beast type monsters (for example). If you had one Beast in your hand originally, you will get to summon two copies of Manticore of Darkness to the field during your end phase.
Conclusion
We will probably see a lot of experimentation with different deck types over the next couple of months. The cards are available to create some novel and exciting decks that can be tournament competitive. Now it’s up to you to be creative!
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