The Crystal Beasts, despite having a generous amount of support dedicated to them through a single set, haven’t made any serious finishes at a premiere tournament yet. The deck type has received attention in many dueling communities, and players like Marc Glass made the Crystal Beasts their choice for the U.S. National Championship, but no “big win” has materialized as of yet. However, the potential to blow out a Shonen Jump Championship can still be seen in the theme, as the Crystal Beasts possess a level of deck searching and card filtering that has not appeared in other strategies aside from Destiny Heroes.
The last time I talked about Crystal Beasts, I highlighted the win condition for the deck. Crystal Abundance is perfect for the theme since most of the Crystal Beast monsters don’t have the raw ATK needed to stand on their own in battle. Crystal Abundance is a reward for players focusing on the card-filtering aspect of the Crystal Beasts, allowing the deck to build to a huge win condition.
The other driving force behind the Crystal Beasts is Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins. While Crystal Abundance is the primary combo card that allows the new theme to win games, Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins is the primary control card. The two cards are very different, and yet they work off of each other quite well.
Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins is the ultimate “do everything” card. And when I say this card does everything, I’m not lying. It’s a field spell that receives effects based on the number of Crystal Beast monsters in your spell and trap zone. If you have at least one Crystal Beast there, the only way your opponent can remove your Rainbow Ruins is through a Giant Trunade, Raiza the Storm Monarch, or Spiritualism . . . and you most likely won’t see much of the latter. Even if the opponent plays Heavy Storm, your field spell will remain out due to its first effect. This makes Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins a control tool for the Crystal Beasts that just won’t go away.
The best part about the field spell’s first effect is that all of the other effects you get when using it are good too! The second effect is extremely underrated, as it allows you to mitigate a large amount of the battle damage that you will most likely suffer while trying to build up to a critical turn with Crystal Abundance. Being able to reduce the damage taken from a direct attack by Card Trooper or Cyber Dragon can add up, allowing you to play through an extra turn or two by the time you near 0 life points. This is especially important in this current Advanced format, which is riddled with fast decks that strongly favor tempo over anything else. The second effect of Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins is critical in making sure your deck gets to a point where it can go off with one big main phase and battle phase, and it’s even more important for the Crystal Beasts since they are a more consistent but significantly slower deck than some of the other combo choices in the current format.
The third effect is arguably the most powerful on the card. If you have three or more Crystal Beasts in your spell and trap zone, you can send one of your Crystal Beast monsters (from a monster zone) to the graveyard when your opponent activates a spell or trap to negate and destroy that card. Spells or traps. A more powerful negation effect has not been released since Solemn Judgment. Counter traps wish they were as good as this field spell, and while Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins does not negate cards at spell speed 3, it does manage to control what the opponent can and can’t do very effectively. This is especially impressive against the combo decks that are popular right now, since decks like Demise OTK may have problems resolving Ritual spells when faced with the Ruins. Diamond Dude Turbo will pretty much have to concede against an experienced player who knows what to negate with Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins. In addition, the ever-popular Brain Control—which gains more favor with the average duelist every day—suffers also, hurting Monarch and aggro decks alike.
The fourth effect of Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins lets you draw one card each turn. Honestly, you should be winning by this point, so it is more of a reminder to keep digging for your win condition. The fifth effect, however, gives you a way to keep pressure on your opponent. Keeping one of your spell and trap zones open is important, and Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins allows you to special summon one of your Crystal Beasts from there to the field, ensuring that you don’t waste the Crystal Beast you remove from that zone. This also acts as an alternate way to win the duel, since you can special summon Crystal Beast – Ruby Carbuncle in order to move your entire spell and trap zone to your monster zone for one all-out attack. It’s not like you actually lose anything if your opponent uses Torrential Tribute or Mirror Force at this point, since your monsters will simply return to your spell and trap zone afterward. It’s a losing scenario for your opponent as he or she will have no real way to deal with five special-summoned monsters each and every turn.
Never before have I seen a card that does as much as Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins. It has built-in protection, damage mitigation, spell and trap negation, and draw power, and it also acts as a win condition. Even if your deck is not centered on this field spell, it’s hard not to include it in any Crystal Beast build. You’ll typically get effects that you will enjoy simply for having the card on the field, and it makes sure that you aren’t just sitting there with Crystal Beasts in your spell and trap zone doing nothing.
The most important thing to remember about Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins is that it gives your Crystal Beast deck a load of extra options. Sometimes, the deck will hit a speed bump when filling up its spell and trap zone with monsters. The field spell makes sure that you will constantly do something with your continuous-spell Crystal Beasts. The negation option is one of the most powerful effects in the game, the draw effect is extremely important in keeping your hand refueled and full of options, and the fifth effect can act as a win condition all on its own. Heck, this field spell is even safe from removal once it hits the table with a Crystal Beast in your spell and trap zone. It is among the most dominating control cards available, and only the Crystal Beasts have access to it. Make sure you have three copies of this card, because if you ever decide to play with the Crystal Beasts, you can expect Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins to be a staple.