Strike of Neos was one of the most powerful sets ever released for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. It had been ages since we’d seen so many incredible cards, with gems like Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, Advanced Ritual Art, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, and many others seeing play.

The funny part is that, as incredible as Strike of Neos was, it’s nothing compared to Force of the Breaker. The upcoming new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG set is, in my opinion, the most powerful set to be released since Invasion of Chaos. There are an astounding number of highly playable cards in it, much like the old Invasion of Chaos booster set. That classic set also harbored some of the most powerful monsters ever printed in this game. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End were so good that they eventually found themselves on the Advanced format’s Forbidden list. It also featured Chaos Sorcerer, one of the most powerful removal engines in the game, which also found itself on that list.

Oh by the way, Force of the Breaker has new Chaos monsters.

Sky Scourge Enrise

Level 8

Attribute: LIGHT

Fairy-type effect monster

ATK: 2400

DEF: 1500

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. It cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play 3 LIGHT Fairy monsters and 1 DARK Fiend monster from your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can remove 1 face-up monster on the field from play. If you do, this card cannot attack this turn.

No, I wasn’t kidding. Chaos monsters are returning to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Rejoice . . . or fear for your lives. These new monsters aren’t even being called Envoys. They’re being given the title of scourge. Just for reference, let’s look at the definition of what scourge actually means:

Scourge (n): a person or thing that applies or administers punishment.

In other words, Sky Scourge Enrise is a terrific being from the sky that descends to administer punishment on . . . well, any monsters that exist on your opponent’s side of the field.

Folks who were playing Yu-Gi-Oh! at the regional level a year ago should remember how quickly Chaos Return decks dominated the format. Chaos Sorcerer proved to be an absolute monster. An effect that removes a face-up monster from play once per turn was amazingly powerful, and even if your opponent had an answer in the form of Smashing Ground, Chaos Sorcerer still robbed him or her of two cards by the time it was removed. Sky Scourge Enrise has the same effect, but with 100 more ATK. Now the Monarchs—popular at the time for their ability to trample over opposing Chaos Sorcerer cards—will only be able to take out Sky Scourge Enrise in a kamikaze attack.

The one drawback to all this increased power is that Sky Scourge Enrise has a heftier summoning requirement. You must remove four monsters in order to special summon it, and the monster can only be summoned this way. If Enrise is destroyed, you’re not going to be able to bring it back to the field with Premature Burial. Instead of just requiring a Light and a Dark monster for the special summon, Sky Scourge Enrise requires one Dark Fiend-type monster, and three Light Fairy-types.

Despite the drawback, Sky Scourge Enrise is well worth the effect. Summoning it to the field can easily swing a game in your favor, and once you have fulfilled the summoning requirement, you will be able to reap the benefits of a once-per-turn removal effect. There are also plenty of monsters that make summoning Enrise very easy.

Shining Angel is a solid recruiter monster already, and Strike of Neos brought forth an additional Light Fairy recruiter in the form of Nova Summoner. In fact, Nova Summoner is actually a better recruiter in this case than Shining Angel, since monsters you special summon via Nova Summoner can go to defense position. This allows you to maintain your life points while thinning your deck and filling up your graveyard. Even if you run out of Nova Summoner cards, you can run a couple of Shining Angel cards to make sure that you have more than enough Fairies to remove for Sky Scourge Enrise’s cost!

Another Light Fairy that contributes to the late-game dominance that can be granted by Sky Scourge Enrise is the powerful Gellenduo, whose high ATK and comparative impunity to targeted effects can often render it a better version of Spirit Reaper. While the Fairy may lack the hand disruption effect of the little Zombie, Gellenduo can sufficiently stall until you manage to get the required number of monsters into your graveyard for the special summoning of Sky Scourge Enrise. You can even get Gellenduo into the graveyard easily simply by finding a way to deal damage to yourself. Using Ring of Destruction to destroy an opponent’s monster will also let you destroy your own Gellenduo, in case you need that third Light Fairy to special summon Enrise.

Magical Merchant might not be a Fairy, but it’s still one of the best ways to thin your deck of monsters. With The Transmigration Prophecy now available to use in tandem with Pot of Avarice, Sky Scourge Enrise could lead to a new version of the Pot-Merchant-Turbo!

Another way to turn Sky Scourge Enrise into a solid win condition is to use it in conjunction with Metamorphosis. There’s nothing quire like special summoning a level 8 monster, removing the opponent’s key threat from play, and then turning your big monster into a Cyber Twin Dragon for a quick and lethal 5600 damage to the face.

However, with all these possibilities, the one deck type that interests me the most with Sky Scourge Enrise is the old counter-Fairy deck. Counter-Fairy managed to get by with just a few win conditions like Wave-Motion Cannon, but Enrise could potentially push the deck over the top. That deck strategy has a variety of powerful Light Fairy-types at its disposal, including Bountiful Artemis, Herald of Purple Light, Herald of Green Light, and the new Harvest Angel of Wisdom. This could be the powerful threat that the deck was waiting for!

Also, fulfilling Enrise’s Dark Fiend requirement is simple enough. There are a variety of powerful Fiends available that can be used with Sky Scourge Enrise. Sangan is an obvious choice, and Snipe Hunter can fulfill the Fiend requirement while discarding Light Fairies to destroy the opponent’s spell and trap zone. Giant Germ can also be a solid choice, and there are many others that could be added to your deck. Even Dark Mimic LV1 works as Fiend fodder for Enrise, and it also replaces itself with a new card! There are so many Dark Fiends in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG that it will be hard to figure out which ones to add to your deck!

Expect Sky Scourge Enrise to be a very powerful force in the Advanced format once Force of the Breaker becomes legal for tournament play. It might be slower than its predecessor, Chaos Sorcerer, but it can be just as powerful. You won’t want to miss the Force of the Breaker Sneak Preview event so that you can be among the first to obtain the new Chaos monsters in this set.