Force of the Breaker gives us the sets of cards used by two of the arriving students from North Academy: Jesse and Axel. While Jesse’s cards are cute, Axel’s monsters are fierce. For him, dueling is a battlefield and his monsters are the soldiers. (I always thought dueling was about annoying my opponent as much as possible with every Ojama I could find, but to each his or her own.) This week we begin our examination of his favorite monster theme, with Volcanic Hammerer, Volcanic Slicer, and Volcanic Doomfire.

Hammer or Slice?

Volcanic Hammerer and Volcanic Slicer give burn decks something they don’t usually have: a way to burn or a way to smash, both with the same card.

Volcanic Slicer says:

Once per turn, you can inflict 500 damage to your opponent. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.

Its higher-level counterpart, Volcanic Hammerer has a slightly different way of inflicting damage:

Once per turn, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of “Volcanic” monsters in your Graveyard x 200.

The provision about not being able to attack during the same turn remains the same.

Each card inflicts damage as an ignition effect that you can only activate during either of your main phases . . . usually. Your ability to activate the effect of either of these cards rests entirely upon what you have done with it during your turn. Using the effect costs the monster its ability to attack during your battle phase, and if you have already attacked with either of these monsters, you won’t be able to activate its effect during your second main phase.

Anybody who ever played with Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (“The Soldier” for short) should be familiar with this restriction. You could use the Soldier’s monster-removing effect during your first main phase, but that would mean not being able to attack with him during the battle phase. If you decided to attack with him during your battle phase, you wouldn’t be able to activate his removal effect during your second main phase. You couldn’t have it both ways.

The Soldier had tricks for getting around this, and Volcanic Slicer and Volcanic Hammerer can use them as well. Book of Moon was generally the card of choice, because flipping the Soldier face down and then back up again resets the condition that prevented him from attacking during the turn. Otherwise, you were looking at removing the Soldier from the field and then bringing him back again, all in time to attack during the battle phase. Not exactly a practical solution.

Remember that you aren’t forced to use the effect of either Volcanic Hammerer or Volcanic Slicer. When smashing makes sense, you will attack. When burn makes sense, you will use their effects. Your soldiers must adapt to the battlefield, as Axel would.

Reign of Volcanic Terror

Volcanic Doomfire is the serious muscle of Axel’s Deck.

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by sending a face-up “Tri-Blaze Accelerator” you control to the Graveyard. During your opponent’s Battle Phase, your opponent must attack this monster with any Attack Position monsters they control. When this card destroys a monster and sends it to the Graveyard, destroy all monsters your opponent controls and inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each monster destroyed by this effect.

Volcanic Doomfire is a special summon only monster of the best sort. Many recent monsters with special summon restrictions could not be special summoned from the graveyard, but Volcanic Doomfire escaped the fate of its predecessors. Previous special summon only monsters like Cyber Barrier Dragon and Cyber Laser Dragon from the Zane Duelist Packs, Water Dragon from Elemental Energy, and Destiny Hero - Dogma from Power of the Duelist all have that pesky “cannot be special summoned except by . . .” restriction that prevented them from getting a revival treatment. Volcanic Doomfire does not have this restriction placed upon it, making it akin to the Chaos monsters of old.

You can revive your Volcanic Doomfire from the graveyard or even special summon it when it is removed from play, assuming you manage to get it into play correctly first. To do so, all you need to do is get Tri-Blaze Accelerator into play. Then you just send that card to the graveyard and special summon your Volcanic Doomfire from your hand. It is like a tribute summon in a way, because this is all one action sequence that can’t be interrupted and does not use the chain. Also, you can only perform this special summon during your first or second main phase.

Why would a player go to all this trouble? Volcanic Doomfire is highly aggressive and punishes monsters in a way you don’t normally see. It has a built-in “super-Taunt” that forces every attack-position monster your opponent controls to attack your Volcanic Doomfire during your opponent’s battle phase. Volcanic Doomfire isn’t exactly a pushover either, lording its big ATK over everyone that has the misfortune of facing it on the battlefield. As if that wasn’t enough incentive, whenever it destroys a monster in battle, its effect activates and wipes out any stragglers that have been left behind on your opponent’s side of the field.

Unless your opponent has a solution for this problem, it is likely that he or she will begin to skip his or her battle phase entirely or stick to setting monsters. The “super-Taunt” only works if your opponent actually enters his or her battle phase. If your opponent begins to counter the “super-Taunt,” you will have to go on the offensive to take advantage of Volcanic Doomfire’s mass destruction effect. It activates anytime your Volcanic Doomfire destroys a monster in battle and sends it to the graveyard, so you’re free to use it on the offense or when it forces someone into a fight he or she can’t win.

You may need to be careful who you pick a fight with. Volcanic Doomfire needs to remain on the field in order to activate its effect. If it is destroyed during the battle because of a card effect, it can lose its ability to destroy every monster your opponent controls. The timing for the activation of Volcanic Doomfire’s effect is the same as Hydrogeddon, and we’ve already seen the problems that monster can encounter when it battles D.D. Warrior Lady or a monster of equal ATK.

Next week, we’ll examine the Blaze Accelerator and the stooges/ammunition it uses to destroy your opponent’s monsters. Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com