I hope you’re not busy this weekend. Sneak Previews are coming up, and I’m planning on heading to at least one to pick up some Shadow of Infinity of my own. Today, I’m going to give you a peek at one of the cards that many players will be chasing after at these events. It’s one of the Sacred Beast cards—I present to you, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder!

The Sacred Beasts have moved into the spotlight in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX story arc, so the cards are anticipated for the monsters’ notoriety as well as for their high ATK and DEF values and strong effects. The Sacred Beasts have been compared to the Egyptian God cards of old, with one big difference—these cards are legal for tournament play. I was in Tokyo this past December, and while looking around Yamashiroya, a great toy and gaming store in Ueno, I came across a full display of the Konami set. I have to say, the ultimate rare versions of the Sacred Beast cards were glorious to behold, and I can’t help but hope that I pull some of my own.

We’ve established that they’re gorgeous—now, will you want to play with them? The summoning requirements are tricky, but the size and effect of the monsters make them very tempting. The high ATK and DEF values are appealing, the effects are cool, and then there’s the challenge of simply making them work effectively. I know I’m going to try.

But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Take a look at what the monster can do:

Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder is a Thunder/Effect type monster with the Light attribute. It’s level 10, and has a 4000 ATK and 4000 DEF. You can’t normal summon or set it, or special summon it except by sending three face-up continuous spell cards from your side of the field to the graveyard. Besides its high ATK and DEF values, this monster will also do 1000 direct damage to your opponent’s life points whenever it destroys a monster in battle and sends it to the graveyard, and when it is in face-up defense position, your opponent cannot attack any other monster on your side of the field.

That’s a big monster. 4000 ATK and DEF? Ouch! Since we can’t let something that big run rampant and unrestrained, there’s always got to be a catch. For this card, it’s the summoning conditions. Since you can’t get it out except by sending three face-up continuous spell cards from your side of the field to the graveyard, the trick to playing Hamon is finding continuous spell cards that work well in your deck, but aren’t absolutely essential—because you’re going to have to get rid of them in order to summon the Beast.

If you sit there and think for a few minutes, I know you can come up with several continuous spell cards that will do just fine. There are some cards that will work really well with this monster, and could lead to some interesting deck ideas. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Messenger of Peace: This works very well, slowing down the game until you can get what you’re looking for to make your deck work, or holding off big attackers. It also encourages your opponent to summon rather than set monsters, waiting for the chance to get rid of the spell card and attack you. Once you’ve got your field and hand how you like them and are ready to attack, you can send it off the field to help bring out a really big attacker.

Level Limit – Area B: This card is a great way to screw around with an aggressive opponent, but the card is more or less stuck on the field until it’s destroyed. Naturally, you want to decide when it’s time for it to go, so why waste a Giant Trunade or your single Mystical Space Typhoon when you can move it off the field and get the beatstick to end all beatsticks all at the same time? The one drawback is you’ll be attacking defense-position monsters, but you’ll be doing 1000 points of damage each time.

Wave-Motion Cannon: While this isn’t as widely played as it used to be, it’s still a viable pick. You want to think carefully about the best move to make if you’re going to use Wave-Motion Cannon, because if you use it to special summon Hamon, of course you aren’t going to get the burn effect. If do decide to run it, build a deck with plenty of other continuous spells, and when you draw into one you feel like giving up, you could send Wave-Motion Cannon off the field for its effect, then replace it with the spell you just drew.

How about some of the neglected cards lurking in your boxes and binders? There are some possibilities there. Have you still got Destiny Board and a set of Spirit Messages? Think about it—not only do they search themselves out, but they’ll thin your deck and make your opponent completely underestimate what you’re about to do. And hey, if you don’t draw Hamon quickly enough, who knows? Maybe you’ll pull off a Destiny Board win!

The Dark Door or Vengeful Bog Spirit has popped up from time to time, and they’ll do a decent job of holding off your opponent while you get ready to spring Hamon onto the field. D. D. Borderline can stall in the early game, then head off the field in time to start dishing out the damage. If you’re playing a Burn deck, then you might already be running Dark Room of Nightmare, and that will work nicely as well. Spell Absorption’s life point gain is helpful and the card isn’t usually a big enough threat for your opponent to waste his or her removal on, so that’s got some merit as well.

Stumbling will slow down the game, and so will Swords of Concealing Light, which can also be a handy topdeck. However, both these cards put your opponent’s monsters into defense position, and you’ll do the most amount of damage by attacking weak attack-position monsters. If you want to focus on keeping the opponent’s monster zone as clear as possible, how about Ground Collapse? I remember being seriously inconvenienced by that card way back in the day, and it will also help stall a bit until you can grab the big guy.

Once you get Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder out onto the field, you’re going to want to protect it, because unless you can return it to your hand from the graveyard and get three more continuous spells on the field, it’s not coming back. And with ATK and DEF values that high, it’s got a big target hanging around its neck that says “Smashing Ground, over here! Widespread Ruin, bring it on!” Don’t bring Hamon out when your opponent’s got a hand full of six cards, unless you’re feeling lucky, and include enough spell and trap removal to protect yourself from unpleasant surprises like Sakuretsu Armor or Magic Cylinder. It’s a good idea to have some way to clear out monsters so you don’t end up running into one of the D. D. crew. You have to give up three cards from the field to get this monster into play, so you want to make the best bargain you can.

Remember that Hamon is a special summon, so you can still normal summon for the turn, or even special summon something else if you’ve got the ability to do so. Mystic Swordsman LV2 or Drillroid is a good companion to Hamon, especially if you’re staring down Spirit Reaper or a face-down card you’re not sure about. A deck that runs Hamon is already going to be heavy on continuous spells, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for other spells and traps, but if you play in an area with a lot of weenies, then Level Limit Area – A will make your opponent very, very unhappy. Ceasefire is a good safeguard, too. Know what you’re attacking, dish out some extra damage, and avoid running into Old Vindictive Magician or Cyber Jar. Big Bang Shot is another option for ending the game in a hurry, which is ideally what you’ll want to do with this monster. Please don’t leave it sitting on your field waiting for your opponent to draw into Snatch Steal or Creature Swap.