Today we discuss a few of our new TCG exclusives that were released in Crossroads of Chaos!
Seed of Flame
Seed of Flame’s first effect is an optional trigger: you can only activate it when Seed of Flame is destroyed by a card effect and also sent to the graveyard. Given the nature of optional trigger effects, there are some methods of destroying Seed of Flame that won’t allow us to activate its effect. If Seed of Flame is destroyed by an effect resolving at chain link 1, you will usually be all right, but if it is destroyed by the effect resolving at chain link 2 or higher, you won’t be able to interrupt the chain to activate Seed of Flame’s effect and will lose its ability as a result.
When you activate Seed of Flame’s effect, you will select a level 4 or lower Plant-type monster in your graveyard as a target, but any copies of Seed of Flame in your graveyard are off limits. When the effect resolves, you will special summon the Plant type you selected from your graveyard and you will also special summon a Seed Token onto your opponent’s side of the field in defense position. Giving your opponent Plant-type monster tokens is a recurring theme within Crossroads of Chaos, but at least this time your opponent cannot use the Plant for a tribute summon.
Rai-Jin
Rai-Jin is a rather odd monster because he has an "undefined" ATK value of "?" that is not set to any specific value by his effects. While Rai-Jin is face up on the field, his ATK will default to 0 as a result, but that’s probably not where it will stay. Rai-Jin’s continuous effect increases the ATK of every Light monster you control by 100 points for each Light monster in your graveyard. So if you have five Light monsters in your graveyard, Rai-Jin will power up the ATK of every Light monster you control by 500. Rai-Jin himself also gains ATK from his own effect, boosting up from the 0 ATK starting point.
Giving Rai-Jin an undefined original ATK influences how he will interact with other effects while in your deck, hand, graveyard, or removed zone. While he is in your deck, graveyard, or removed zone, his ATK is undefined, so you cannot retrieve him with Sangan’s effect or special summon him with Limit Reverse. His effect is necessary to give him some kind of ATK, but this only occurs while he is face up on the field.
Rai-Jin also has a trigger effect that activates during your end phases, and when it resolves you have to destroy one of your Light monsters. If Rai-Jin happens to be the only Light you control, he will be forced to destroy himself. Rai-Jin is not a guy you want to leave hanging out on his own . . . well, as long as he keeps company with other Light monsters. Two Rai-Jin cards are not allowed to share the same side of the field. It’s a restriction we’ve seen before on cards like Gravekeeper’s Chief and Grandmaster of the Six Samurai.
Tempest Magician
Tempest Magician’s first effect is a trigger that activates whenever she is Synchro summoned, placing a spell counter on her when the effect resolves. Her second and third abilities are ignition effects that you can activate during a main phase of your own turn. The second effect is used to feed your monsters that can hold spell counters, and the third effect puts those spell counters to use as a means of finishing off your opponent’s life points.
To activate Tempest Magician’s second effect, you must discard at least one card as a cost. Each card you discard equals one spell counter you can place on a monster you control that is able to hold onto spell counters. If you discard two cards, you get a total of two spell counters to spread out. Likewise, three cards gets you three spell counters. It can be expensive, sure, but it’s all about setting up for Tempest Magician’s effect and getting spell counters onto cards that need them.
Tempest Magician’s final effect is an ignition effect that you activate by removing every spell counter on the field. When the effect resolves, you will inflict damage based on the number of spell counters that were removed. The faster you can accumulate spell counters, the faster you can sweep them away and drain your opponent’s life points.
Overdrive Teleporter
Overdrive Teleporter is pretty simple, but there is one aspect of its effects that I want to discuss. Using the special summon effect can only be done once while Overdrive Teleporter is face up on the field, but if you can flip it face down, after it is flipped face up you can use the effect again. These "one time only" effects typically "forget" you used the effect (monsters like Guardian Sphinx that flip themselves face down are an exception). Also, removing Overdrive Teleporter from the field temporarily (with a card like Interdimensional Matter Transporter) will also reset its effect and allow it to perform another special summon.
One final note: Overdrive Teleporter does not target the Psychic monsters in your deck. It actually isn’t possible to target cards in the deck at all. This means you won’t tell your opponent what monsters you are special summoning until you actually special summon them.
Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com.
—Curtis Schultz