They are monsters from The Lost Millennium set in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG—ancient monsters unearthed from millennia past, the relics of a forgotten time. While many seek them to learn of their mysteries, others find them to be useful tools of conquest and destruction. The world of Yu-Gi-Oh! is never without conflict, and the stage has been set for another epic battle. No doubt, many of you experienced this firsthand at last weekend's The Lost Millennium Sneak Preview events.

The set will make for some interesting duels! New cards are always great for spicing up gameplay and throwing your opponents out of sorts, but the cards can just as easily throw you when unexpected situations develop.

We begin the first month of summertime lessons with Batteryman AA.

Power Surge

When you read Batteryman AA's text, you'll notice that the card has two different effects. Both of them reward you for having your copies of Batteryman AA in the same battle position. Bad things will happen if even one copy goes against the grain!

The text is a lot to take in when you read it in one block, so let's split it up into two pieces.

If all copies of Batteryman AA on your side of the field are in attack position, increase the ATK of this card by 1000 points for each copy of Batteryman AA on your side of the field.

Let's say that I have only one face-up copy of Batteryman AA on my side of the field. Its ATK is an unimpressive 1000, so there's not much to work with there. Now, let's say that I summon another copy of Batteryman AA, giving me two copies of the card in attack position. What ATK does each copy have now? They have 2000 ATK a piece, which is a considerable boost from before. My opponent won't scoff at Batteryman any longer!

But even that won't get me past Berserk Gorilla unscathed, will it? I'm going to need more power if I want this system to run. Let's say that my next turn comes around and I summon a third copy of Batteryman AA. Because I now have three face-up, attack-position copies of the card on the field, I control three monsters with 3000 ATK each. Now, that's a power boost!

If all copies of Batteryman AA on your side of the field are in defense position, increase the DEF of this card by 1000 points for each copy of Batteryman AA on your side of the field.

This effect is similar to the first one, only this time, we are looking at defense-position copies of the Batteryman and increasing each card's DEF. If I have one copy of Batteryman AA in defense position, it will have only 1000 DEF. But if I have two copies in defense position, they will each have 2000 DEF. With three copies in defense position, they will have 3000 DEF a piece.

Batteryman AA likes to work as part of a team. One copy by itself isn't very powerful, but when you combine several copies together, you can form quite a formidable team. You definitely want to run three copies of this monster.

Both of the card's effects are continuous. When you summon another copy of Batteryman AA to the field, the copies that are already there will alter their ATK or DEF values accordingly. If a face-down Batteryman AA is flipped face up by an attack, the card's DEF will adjust accordingly. These effects don't use the chain, so your opponent can't stop them with a card like Divine Wrath.

Unfortunately, the Batteryman has a weakness in multiples, because its strength depends on having every face-up copy in the same battle position. If any copy on your side of the field is switched to a different position, every copy will go back to having 0 ATK and 0 DEF.

Low Power

Keith has been doing well. He now controls three, attack-position copies of Batteryman AA that are staring down his opponent, Rosie, with their formidable 3000 ATK a piece. Rosie knows that being attacked by any of these monsters will mean certain doom, so she has a plan. She summons Beautiful Headhuntress and sets one card in the spell and trap card zone before ending her turn.

Keith thinks he's in the clear, because Beautiful Headhuntress is no match against his 3000 ATK copies of Batteryman. He also knows that Rosie has already used her power cards like Mirror Force, so he thinks that Rosie's set card can't possibly stop him. He declares an attack with one of his copies of Batteryman AA.

The trap is sprung! But it's not a trap—it's the quick-play spell Enemy Controller. Rosie activates it and switches one of Keith's copies of Batteryman to defense position. Now, Keith has no way to stop the beating that will soon follow.

With the card's weakness in mind, it's a good idea to have a contingency plan. Do you remember Final Attack Orders? When this trap card is active, you can be certain that your copies of Batteryman AA will remain in attack position and keep their collective power surge flowing.

In addition, Batteryman AA has its own revival card, the spell card Battery Charger. With this card, you can pay 500 life points to special summon a copy of Batteryman from your graveyard into any battle position you want. This allows you to partner your newly summoned Batteryman with the copies you already have on the field, increasing the strength of each one.

With the proper support and careful planning, Batteryman AA will grow into a powerful monster. When that happens, your opponent will be in trouble.

Until next time, send all comments to curtis@metagame.com.