Mystic Swordsman LV4 is one of the most popular cards in Soul of the Duelist. It’s not a secret that Warrior decks are dominating most metagames right now. Warriors have speed, consistency, and a great balance of raw power to awesome effects; they can also search for many of the specific cards they need. The World Championships demonstrated that Sasuke Samurai could help Warrior decks stay on the fringe of tier one, even in the Traditional environment at that time. Mystic Swordsman LV4 builds on the strength of Sasuke Samurai, adding an awesome ATK rating. Don’t want to see it turned to defense? Special summon it with Marauding Captain and away you go with two monsters, one with an ATK value of 1200 and another with an ATK value of 1900 that destroys anything face down. Reinforcement of the Army can search for it, and it fits right in many decks.

Mystic Swordsman LV6 continues the Mystic Swordsman tradition. While it can be difficult to level up Mystic Swordsman LV2 into LV4, it’s pretty easy to whack something with a 1900 ATK monster that isn’t face down. Once you do, you can special summon Mystic Swordsman LV6 in exchange for your LV4, and the real fun begins.

Mystic Swordsman LV6 is a level 6 monster with 2300 ATK. There’s nothing special there, especially since Warrior decks have access to Goblin Attack Force with the same ATK rating. But, it’s the effect of Mystic Swordsman LV6 that makes it a real winner. In short, Mystic Swordsman LV6 has the head of Sasuke Samurai and the body of a Mystical Knight of Jackal. It retains the ability to destroy a face-down monster card that it attacks, but it also gains the ability to bounce a card destroyed by that effect back on top of the opponent’s deck, forcing him or her to draw it again.

The “soft lock” (meaning you can break out of it if you perform certain actions) offered by Mystical Knight of Jackal has been popular since that card’s introduction. Unfortunately, the chance of placing your opponent in the difficult position of potentially drawing the same monster over and over just wasn’t worth running the two-tribute Mystical Knight of Jackal. Decks running cards like A Hero Emerges could run it efficiently, but that was about it. Mystic Swordsman LV6 gives us the same alluring “soft lock” potential, but does so in a package that works well with an already-established deck, and can very easily cost us nothing when it comes to sacrificing field presence.

Mystic Swordsman LV6 also thins the deck, so it’s good for that, too. It can’t be searched out with Reinforcement of the Army, but levelling it up from its lower-level version will nab it from the deck. Warrior decks can easily handle running one copy of it, since the odds are good that the only other tribute they will be running is Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning. The Swordsman can easily be swapped in for an existing copy of Freed the Matchless General, or the two can even be run together. Three tribute monsters isn’t that bad, though it can cause fatal stalling in the early game if you’re not careful.

Mystic Swordsman LV6 will be a great card for you to play if you already have a Warrior deck. If you’re playing in Sealed Pack, it will do well there too, provided you can keep it alive when it turns to defense. After that, it’ll be a one-man wrecking-crew answer to any one of Rise of Destiny’s big face-down defenders. If you attend one of the Sneak Preview events, you should definitely keep an eye out for this card!