We all know that next season, a duelist will arrive at Duel Academy and use the new Destiny Hero monsters for his own ends, with victory clear in sight. Enemy of Justice gives us the chance to play with these monsters before they make their Yu-Gi-Oh! GX premiere.

We begin our first look into the new Destiny Hero monsters with Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude. Diamond Dude has one of the strongest effects of the Enemy of Justice set, allowing players to interact with their decks on an entirely new level. Its effect is also very tricky and can lead to some entirely unintended and confusing situations. A solid grasp of Diamond Dude’s effect will come in handy if you plan on using him in your game.

Let’s begin with the text for Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude: “While this card is face-up on your side of the field, once per turn you can look at the top card of your Deck. If the card is a Normal Spell Card, send it to the Graveyard and you can activate the Normal Spell Card during the Main Phase of your next turn. If the card is not a Normal Spell Card, place it on the bottom of your Deck.”

This is an ignition effect, allowing for one use per turn and only during one of your own main phases. When you resolve Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude’s effect, you take the top card of your deck and reveal it. If it is a normal spell card, it goes to your graveyard. If it is anything else, it is placed on the bottom of your deck. These effects are fairly simple and not hard to explain. The fun really begins in the specific details. If you revealed a normal spell, you gain an unusual ability. You will be able to activate that spell during your next turn, without even having it in your hand or your field!

Now, when I say, “activate” I should really say, “activate the effect of,” because that more accurately describes what you will do. You see, the normal spell that you revealed doesn’t “activate” like it usually would. You don’t play it from your hand or flip it face-up on the field. Instead, it remains in the graveyard and never comes out into play. When you choose to use it, you simply activate its effect and then select any necessary targets required for the card’s effect. If we aren’t “activating” the normal spell, do we have to pay its costs or meet any of its activation requirements? The answer is “no” to both, and this is where the confusion often begins. To really understand what this means for play, let’s consider some examples.

Since we are only activating the effect of the normal spell that was deposited into the graveyard by Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude’s effect, we do not have to pay any of the activation costs of that normal spell. If you use Diamond Dude’s effect and reveal, say, Tribute to the Doomed, when you activate its effect during your next turn, you will not have to discard a card from your hand. That would be a cost for Tribute to the Doomed . . . which you don’t have to pay because of the condition Diamond Dude has set up for you.

With Diamond Dude’s effect, you can potentially play cards like Lightning Vortex, Confiscation, Dark Core, and Brain Control without having to pay any costs at all. For many normal spells, this can be a wonderful thing, and will allow you to use cards that are normally far too costly to consider, like Final Destiny and Mega Ton Magical Cannon.

On the other hand, some normal spells function so well with their ordinary cost that trying to use them through Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude is a really bad idea. Level Up!, the LV monster’s best friend, has a cost that requires you to send a monster with “LV” in its card name from your field to your graveyard. The monster you use to pay for the card’s cost is referenced by the effect to determine what you will special summon. For example, if you send Armed Dragon LV5 to the graveyard to pay the cost of Level Up!, you will use it as a reference for the effect and special summon Armed Dragon LV7 accordingly.

Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude changes things. If I drop a Level Up! into my graveyard with Diamond Dude’s effect, I will not pay the activation cost if I choose to activate its effect during my following turn. Without paying the cost, Level Up! has no frame of reference for determining what monster I will special summon, so I don’t get to special summon anything at all!

The popular normal spell Metamorphosis suffers the same fate. It uses the monster you tributed for its cost to determine what you can special summon from your Fusion deck. With no frame of reference, you cannot special summon any monsters at all. Metamorphosis may work very well in most situations, but not with Diamond Dude.

Some normal spells have activation requirements that limit when they can be activated. Burst Stream of Destruction, for example, says that you can only activate it while Blue-Eyes White Dragon is face-up your side of the field. This provision is the card’s activation requirement, and it will prevent you from activating it before the proper field situation exists.

Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude doesn’t care about such things. The normal spell that you deposit into your graveyard only has its effect activated, so picky little things like activation requirements are meaningless. With this is mind, you don’t have much to worry about. You will simply activate its effect and watch your opponent’s monsters get destroyed. Any restrictions placed upon monsters by the card’s effect (Blue-Eyes White Dragon in this case) will still be applied, because they are a part of the card’s effect and will not be ignored. But if you don’t have any Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards on the field, you won’t have anything to worry about.

What cards can we use with this knowledge?

How about Ojama Delta Hurricane!? Normally you would need the three Ojama monsters on your side of the field in order to activate it, but with the ability of Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, you no longer care. You are free to ignore the activation requirement, allowing you to easily wipe out every card on your opponent’s side of the field.

Chaos Greed and Chaos End work well with the card, too. Ordinarily each card would require meeting a strict activation requirement, but thanks to Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude you don’t care anymore. You would be able to draw two cards with Chaos Greed or destroy every monster on the field with Chaos End and never break a sweat. Power like this can really turn the tide of battle.

Selection of targets is still important when activating the effect of the normal spells that you deposited into the graveyard with Diamond Dude. When you activate the effect of the normal spell, be sure to clearly state what targets you will select. Even a card like Pot of Avarice that targets cards in the graveyard must still select legal targets when you activate the effect.

We also need to consider the longevity of the deposited normal spell. If the normal spell is removed from our graveyard before our next turn, can we still activate its effect? With the normal spell removed from the graveyard, we no longer have access to it and cannot activate its effect during our next turn. In most duels, this is unlikely to occur, but you should keep it in mind in case you encounter a duelist who likes to remove cards from play.

We also need to remember that the normal spell can only be activated during a main phase in your next turn. This means that you cannot activate the effect of your deposited normal spell at an inappropriate time . . . like during your opponent’s turn.

Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude doesn’t fail to impress, but how do its brethren fare? Return here next week for a further look into the new Destiny Hero monsters. Until then, send in all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com.