As you probably know, there will be Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview events held all over the world to let duelists play with the new cards before they’re released on February 26 and 27. However, the Sneak Preview is still a couple of weeks away, and you want to see the cards now. I completely understand, so I’m proud to show you another exclusive Flaming Eternity preview card, Lightning Vortex!

Lightning Vortex
Normal Spell Card
Discard 1 card from your hand. Destroy all face-up monsters on your opponent’s side of the field.

Wow! For those of you who fell out of your seats when you read that, I don’t blame you one bit. Now we have a new addition to the rather small list of legal mass removal spells in Advanced format Yu-Gi-Oh!  For the small price of discarding a card from your hand (a great use for Sinister Serpent), you can obliterate every face-up monster on your opponent’s side of the field. Jinzo? Dead. Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning? Burned to a crisp. A swarm of weenie Warriors? Turned to dust. Lightning Vortex is good for what ails you, provided that you have a card in your hand and the monster that you want to kill is face-up.
           
What does this card mean for those of you who will be attending a Sneak Preview event? Well, someone is going to pull a Lightning Vortex, and that person is going to be very happy. The opponents that person plays against will not be as happy. It’s as simple as that. Lightning Vortex is a bomb in Sealed Pack, because there are few (if any) ways to get monsters out of harm’s way.
           
Of course, Lightning Vortex’s impact on Limited is nothing compared to what the spell is going to do to the Constructed environment. If the card doesn’t wind up on the next limited list, Lightning Vortex has the potential to terrorize tournaments nationwide. It cripples Warrior swarm strategies, standard Beatdown, and newer, Earth-based “Beastdown” decks. The only deck that won’t care so much about this card is Burn, because Burn doesn’t really play any face-up monsters. Expect to see Lightning Vortex in every tournament-winning deck, starting on April 1, which is the set legality date for Flaming Eternity.
           
Lightning Vortex is similar to a forbidden spell card we’re all guilty of playing at one time or another: Raigeki. In fact, you could say that Lightning Vortex is a less broken version of Raigeki. The difference is that Lightning Vortex has a cost to play, and it can’t destroy a face-down Fiber Jar that an opponent plans on flipping the next turn.

Lightning Vortex’s effect is most similar to the effect of Tribe-Infecting Virus, a card that’s seen in every high-level deck. For the cost of discarding a card, Tribe-Infecting Virus destroys all face-up monsters of a declared type. The Virus also has a 1600 ATK value, which is a nice bonus. While Tribe-Infecting Virus can wreck your opponent’s side of the field, you’ll probably need to discard for at least two different monster types. You’ll also need to be careful that you’re not hurting your field presence more than your opponent’s. Lightning Vortex doesn’t have these drawbacks. While Lightning Vortex isn’t a reusable source of damage and monster removal, the spell can destroy all of your opponent’s face-up monsters with one discard. I look forward to studying the strengths and weaknesses of Lightning Vortex after the release of Flaming Eternity.
           
Overall, Lightning Vortex is a solid card that you’ll love to have on your side of the field and hate to see on your opponent’s side. Like many other cards in the Flaming Eternity expansion, Lightning Vortex will probably have a big impact on the metagame. While you’re waiting for the Flaming Eternity release, keep checking Metagame.com for more exclusive card previews, and be sure to go to a Sneak Preview event near you!

Jerome McHale
jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu