The Flaming Eternity set brings us several new Warrior monsters, and today I’m going to take a look at one of the best examples, Chiron the Mage. I think we’ll be seeing it in many decks in the months to come.
Let’s talk about specifics. Chiron the Mage is a Beast-Warrior with the popular Earth attribute. It’s a level 4 monster with 1800 ATK and 1000 DEF, which is fairly respectable out on the battlefield on its own. However, its effect is what makes it a winner. Chiron the Mage lets you discard one spell card from your hand to destroy one spell or trap card on your opponent’s side of the field. The effect is powerful, so you can only use it once per turn.
Chiron the Mage probably won’t shine in the opening game, because it won’t help you maintain board presence and it tends to get run over by monsters like Berserk Gorilla. As soon as you hit the early game, however, Chiron’s potential skyrockets. This Beast-Warrior acts like Tribe-Infecting Virus in the spell or trap zone—like the Virus, the key to using Chiron effectively is to build pressure against an opponent and then start grinding down his or her hand by sacrificing your own.
Chiron the Mage peaks in usefulness during the mid-game, since this is the point in many duels where both players start setting more spells and traps. In the late game it’s not quite as useful, but its 1800 ATK makes Chiron a decent topdeck that can sometimes be enough to finish the game.
You can play Chiron the Mage in a few different ways. The discard part of Chiron’s effect lets Warrior decks overextend more than usual. In addition, Chiron gives Warrior strategies something they often lack—the ability to destroy things like Sakuretsu Armor and Swords of Revealing Light, which can give modern Warrior decks major problems.
In Earth decks, Chiron the Mage enhances one of the themes that Earth monsters have lightly touched upon in the past: spell and trap removal. Though monster-based spell and trap removal is rare, Gigantes has made a major splash in many metagames, due to its inclusion in Earth builds. The Rock came on strong in the second-place deck at the first Shonen Jump Championship. Gigantes is a great answer to Lockdown variants, and teaming up Gigantes with Chiron makes a spell- or trap-based assault on an Earth deck a lot harder to accomplish. That makes this combo worth trying out, and the fact that Gaia Power can pump Chiron up to 2300 ATK is also a great incentive to play this Beast Warrior in an Earth deck.
Chiron also works well in a side deck, because the card punishes both Lockdown Burn strategies and conservative, defensive players. Chiron can combine nicely with Magician of Faith to recycle ammunition for its effect, and it really hurts cards that aren’t chainable The damage is especially severe when those spells and traps can’t be put on the chain—even though Sakuretsu Armor has seen a huge amount of play lately, Waboku might make a comeback when Chiron hits the environment. Limiting Mystical Space Typhoon brought back a lot of spell- and trap-dependent archetypes, so anything that helps sabotage your opponent’s strategy is worth considering.
Chiron the Mage is fantastic both in Booster Draft and Sealed Pack formats. Sealed Pack play differs from Constructed in the amount of spell and trap removal that’s going to be available. Many sets don’t have any removal, so if you can get a few good spells or traps, you’ve got a serious advantage on the competition. Chiron’s removal effect alone, not to mention its excellent (by Sealed Pack standards) stats, makes the card a definite first pick in a draft. If you pull one, be sure to make room in your deck for a few spell cards to fuel its effect.
Chiron will fit easily into two of the top decks in most metagames, and it can easily be swapped in from the side deck of virtually any other deck. Chiron the Mage will probably see frequent play in serious competition. Be ready for it, and get yourself to a Sneak Preview event so you can get your hands on a few copies as soon as possible. Try Chiron out, and if you’re not yet convinced of the massive potential it possesses, you might be surprised at how well it works for you.