But this is a game of balance, and at the other end of the scale, there are cards that offer seemingly limitless possibilities. Metamorphosis is a great example of an effect that adapts to game conditions in order to produce a huge spread of different outcomes. Flexibility can be a huge asset, and any card that offers you unlimited possibilities will, at one time or another, offer you incredible power.

Today’s preview is just such a card. Check out one of the new additions to Jaden Yuki’s bag of tricks, Neo-Spacian Dark Panther!

Neo-Spacian Dark Panther

Beast/Effect

Dark/Level3

1000 ATK/500 DEF

Once per turn, you can select 1 face-up monster on your opponent's side of the field. While this card is face-up on your side of the field, until the end of this turn this card's name is treated as the selected monster's name, and it gets the selected monster's effect(s).

If you’re like me, you probably read the above text and immediately started building a mental list. What monsters do you see every week that the Panther can copy?

Neo-Spacian Dark Panther doesn’t really gain much from copying flip effects or trigger effects that activate in the graveyard. Because of how it works, it can copy those effects but can’t ever make use of them. If Panther is turned face down, it will reset, and if it’s sent to the graveyard, it loses whatever ability it copied before it hits the dirt. So we’re looking for monsters with continuous effects, effects that trigger on the field, or ignition effects.

Luckily, our format happens to be home to one of the best ignition effect monsters of all time.

Does your opponent have Chaos Sorcerer in play? No worries! Drop Neo-Spacian Dark Panther, steal Sorcerer’s effect, and use it to remove the opponent’s best monster, which is most likely the Sorcerer. If the Panther was already on the table when the turn began, you can even turn it face down with Book of Moon or Tsukuyomi, flip summon Panther, and copy that Sorcerer’s effect twice in one turn. You’ll be able to remove two of the opponent’s monsters from the game, and you’ll do it without using Chaos Sorcerer yourself. If you’re playing a Chaos variant, that means you’ll still have Light and Dark monsters in your graveyard for later. If you’re not, it means you’ve got a powerful answer to Chaos Sorcerer that’s just a normal summon away.

There are some other popular monsters that are worth copying, too. Neo-Spacian Dark Panther can remove troublesome monsters from the game if the opponent controls D. D. Warrior Lady. If Don Zaloog sees a fair amount of play in your area, you can copy it and then run over your opponent’s flip effect monster or Spirit Reaper. Considering the amount of use that Don saw at last week’s Shonen Jump Championship in Arlington, that’s a pretty big deal. You can even use Panther as an answer to Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Just summon the Panther, copy Restrict’s effect, and then inhale it to break the opponent’s control over the field.

Destroying the monster you copied will have no effect on Dark Panther’s mimicry, either. You can summon it, copy your opponent’s Jinzo, destroy the android with something like Smashing Ground, and still be invulnerable to traps for the duration of the turn. Need some more fun tricks? While you can’t take advantage of Breaker the Magical Warrior’s effect to give Neo-Spacian Dark Panther a spell counter when it comes into play, you can copy Breaker’s ability to hold and expend spell counters. That means you could copy Breaker with Dark Panther, load a counter onto it with Apprentice Magician, and then go to town. In addition, though Dark Panther’s printed text is a spell speed 1 ignition effect, it can copy multi-trigger effects like that of Strike Ninja. It can even go paw to toe with Injection Fairy Lily, and because its base ATK is higher than Lily’s, it’ll come out on top in battle whether the opponent pays 2000 life points or not.

But that’s just the beginning. While there are plenty of predictable ways to use Neo-Spacian Dark Panther, it’s at its best when it’s involved in more outrageous combos. Because this monster is so versatile, it can be reasonably functional in any duel, but the possibilities are endless. How about copying the effect of an Ameba that you sent over to your opponent’s side of the field? It’d be like running six copies of Ameba instead of three, adding consistency to your Creature Swap/Mystic Box/Ameba deck. Since it’s a level 3 Beast, you could use Rescue Cat to summon a pair, and then do nasty things like copy Chaos Sorcerer twice or attack with a pair of furry Don Zaloog doppelgangers. The plays just get crazier as you delve into more obscure material.

Less useful, but perhaps even more interesting, is the fact that Dark Panther assumes the name of the monster that it’s stalking. While there are very few situations where this has a practical use, consider the Cyber Dragon Fusion deck that Shawn Kelly ran at Shonen Jump Arlington. Neo-Spacian Dark Panther would be able to copy an opponent’s Cyber Dragon and then be used as a fusion material for Cyber Twin Dragon or Cyber End Dragon. The deck gains even more opportunities to bring out its big hitters, while also having a one-shot answer to Chaos Sorcerer.

That’s one of the best things about Neo-Spacian Dark Panther: even though it’s a heavily themed card (there are plenty more Neo-Spacians in Power of the Duelist), it’s an incredibly splashable monster regardless. Virtually any deck can run one or two copies, and that makes it an interesting strategic possibility for combo decks down the road. It can be normal summoned, it doesn’t come with any specific cost, and it has no requirement that necessitates the use of any other specific card. That’s good news all around, whether you’re looking to use Panther as a tech card for major competition or just want to build a deck around its bizarre effect.

On one hand, this card is a dream come true for casual duelists. Wherever Neo-Spacian Dark Panther goes, it tends to cause mayhem, and it’s a fun, unique card to experiment with. On the other hand, it’s also a highly versatile, highly splashable piece of tech that can provide answers to some of the format’s most popular monsters. In addition, because of the way it’s designed, the Panther will only become more interesting (and more impressive), as time goes on and cards that it can mimic continue to be released. Head to your local Sneak Preview two weeks from now, pick up a few copies of Neo-Spacian Dark Panther yourself, and see what you can do with one of the most open-ended cards ever to be printed!