It’s that time again, folks. In just two short weeks, the Tactical Evolution Sneak Preview will give us our first chance to crack packs from the biggest new set in years. Clocking in at a mean 90 cards, Tactical Evolution packs in plenty of powerful support for older cards in addition to introducing a number of new ideas to the game—including an all new type of monster! In fact, let’s meet the new type right now!

Chthonian Emperor Dragon  Dragon/Gemini FIRE – Level 6         ATK 2400/DEF 1500

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect:

—This card can attack twice during the same Battle Phase.

Have you ever wished that you could have the power of cards like Justi-Break and Birthright on your side without having to give up effect monsters in order to use them? I know I have, and with the advent of the Gemini monsters, I don’t have to wish anymore! Gemini monsters all have the designation “Gemini” in their text box next to their type, so Chthonian Emperor Dragon is a Gemini monster, whereas Gemini Elf is not. This is an important distinction, since the temptation to include Gemini Elf in a deck with Gemini support cards is awfully big (though not as useful as you might like). All Gemini monsters are treated the same way you’d treat normal monsters as long as they’re face up on your field or in your graveyard (with one exception). That means that any card that refers to normal monsters affects these monsters as long as they’re on the field or in the graveyard, but not when they’re in your hand. Thus, you would be able to use Birthright to summon a Gemini monster from the graveyard, but you wouldn’t be able to use Ancient Rules to special summon one from your hand.

The one exception to the “treat them as normal” rule occurs when you use the monster’s ability to normal summon it again while it’s already face up on the field. This does use your normal summon for the turn, but unlike the initial summoning, you don’t have to tribute any monsters to do so. You can, however, play cards like Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute in response to this sort of summon. In the case of Chthonian Emperor Dragon, that means you can tribute a monster to normal summon the card from your hand one turn, and then in the next turn, spend your normal summon to switch on the effect of the Gemini monster and treat it as an effect monster with the listed effect. In this case, you end up with a 2400 ATK double-attacker. Not too shabby . . . and it’s a lot easier to play than Cyber Twin Dragon.

More importantly, it’s a monster that can potentially see play in a large variety of decks rather than one specific, narrow strategy. Chthonian Emperor Dragon will certainly be useful in decks based on the Gemini monsters, but we’re also likely to see it in standard normal monster decks, Fire decks, and Dragon decks. Even Cyberdark decks might give it a go, since it’s perfect for taking out Gravekeeper’s Spy and all the Monarchs while leaving your Cyberdark monsters free to do their thing against smaller monsters like Card Trooper or Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Alternatively, you could just have the Emperor Dragon swing across a pair of tiny monsters for huge amounts of damage. It’s enough to make your opponent really rethink that Card Trooper/Machine Duplication combo if he or she sees you’ve got a set spell or trap and a Chthonian Emperor Dragon in the graveyard. Be careful though! If a Gemini monster is flipped face down or destroyed, it goes back to being a normal monster, and you’ll have to spend another normal summon if you want to use its effect again.

Of course, there are a number of other cards in Tactical Evolution that interact with Gemini monsters, and what better way to introduce you to those than with the card you’ll receive for playing in the Tactical Evolution Sneak Preview—Gemini Summoner!

Gemini Summoner     Spellcaster/Effect WATER – Level 4 ATK 1500 / DEF 0

Once per turn, during your opponent's End Phase, you can pay 500 Life Points to Normal Summon or Set 1 Gemini monster from your hand or Normal Summon 1 face-up Gemini monster you control. Once per turn, if this card would be destroyed by battle, it is not destroyed. (Damage calculation is applied normally.)

Gemini Summoner takes the best of Ultimate Offering and Gyroid and combines them in a Water/Spellcaster monster designed to help you play your Gemini monsters and their effects more often. Imagine a situation wherein you summon a monster at the end of each of your opponent’s turns, and then turn it into a powerhouse on each one of your turns . . . all while shutting down your opponent’s battle phase. It’s a nasty prospect for your opponent, especially when you’re dropping monsters like Chthonian Emperor Dragon on his or her turn. Remember, Gemini Summoner does this during your opponent’s end phase—well past the point where he or she could play Brain Control or Snatch Steal to take your monster away and beat you up with it. The Summoner’s 0 DEF makes him difficult to nail with Smashing Ground, and the fact that he has Gyroid’s effect attached to him makes the lack of DEF largely irrelevant. Problems can arise when your opponent has multiple attackers, but in that case, he or she would risk losing monsters to Mirror Force. It’s an interesting play dynamic, and I can’t wait to see how players make use of it.

Gemini Summoner is an extremely practical card to use, as you’ll discover when you see more of Tactical Evolution. His Water/Spellcaster combination allows you to fetch him out of your deck with either Mother Grizzly or Magician’s Circle, and his 1500 ATK makes him an easy pick for Sangan as well. The Water attribute and low ATK strength also make him a valid target for Salvage, while his Spellcaster type lets you use him along with Magical Dimension. Not only can Magical Dimension let your Summoner dodge harmful cards like Brain Control and Soul Exchange, it can also be used to sneak a Gemini Summoner onto the field during the end phase to allow a normal summon that your opponent absolutely couldn’t see coming. There are definite practical applications for all of these tactics, many of which will leave you looking at your computer screen and thinking, “Is that even fair?” The answer is probably, “No, It isn’t very fair . . . if you’ve come up with the right strategy to use it in,” and that’s what Tactical Evolution is all about.

Over the next two weeks, Metagame.com will be previewing a number of cards from the new set to get your brains jumpstarted for the Sneak Preview on August 4^th and 5^th. You had better brace yourself, because the Gemini monsters are like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

—Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu