Have you ever come so close to winning a duel that just one more turn would have been enough? How many of you have flopped over the top card of your deck after a loss and cried, “Nooo!” because that next card would have put you in a position to win? I know I’ve had my share of heartbreaks this way. Drawing the top card of a random pile is part of what keeps the game fresh and interesting, but it’s also something that a truly competitive player dreads. Those who play to win always want to see their best cards as soon as possible to ensure victory.

That’s why cards like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Graceful Charity have been so popular. Although they often do not provide any extra cards in the long run, the ability to dig deeper and deeper into your deck means you’ll have a better chance of drawing power cards before your opponent. Ask almost any top player whether they’d prefer to draw Sinister Serpent and Graceful Charity or Pot of Greed in their opening hand. Almost everyone will tell you the Graceful/Sinister combo is better, even though it’s a slower method of gaining the same amount of cards as Pot of Greed. The reason for this? Graceful Charity allows you to see one more card than Pot of Greed, and that card can make all the difference.

That’s the idea behind today’s preview card, one of the most anticipated in the Tactical Evolution booster set: Crystal Seer.

Crystal Seer   Spellcaster - WATER Level 1 100 ATK/100 DEF

FLIP: Pick up 2 cards from the top of your Deck. Select 1 of those cards and add it to your hand, and put the other card on the bottom of your Deck.

If you’re like me, the first thing you checked was the level of this Spellcaster-type monster, and yes, it’s searchable by Apprentice Magician. The card that was once so popular dropped in use like a bag of rocks after Magician of Faith became Forbidden, and has been waiting for the right time to make a resurgence. Crystal Seer is guaranteed to bring Apprentice back into the fold. How simple it will be to search out Crystal Seer, use its effect to grab the best of the two cards on top of your deck, and tribute it to Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch.

Although Seer lacks much in terms of offensive or defensive power, playing it in a deck with Apprentice Magician and Monarchs means its ATK and DEF are almost irrelevant. Because it’s being tossed away for a bigger monster, Crystal Seer doesn’t need the stats to knock any monsters out of the way. Since it’s searchable by Apprentice Magician, it doesn’t need the defensive stats to survive a turn. Crystal Seer is the perfect get-in-and-get-out card, and it likely won’t be staying on the field very long. I don’t think you’ll find yourself wishing the Seer had more strength, especially because if you need a high ATK, chances are one of the top two cards in your deck will deliver.

That’s just the beginning, of course. A second look at the card reveals that Crystal Seer has the Water attribute. Here, Seer’s low ATK actually becomes a bonus, as 100 ATK makes it a legal target for Salvage. This gives Water decks quite a bonus, since they’ve been missing a consistent card that is Salvage-able and a good target for Spiritual Water Art - Aoi. Seer also enjoys helping out Lekunga and Fenrir out—two Water cards with a lot of potential that have been waiting for good Water support to let them break onto the scene.

Taking Crystal Seer and Apprentice Magician out of cookie-cutter Monarchs for a second, a strong deck based around Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys comes to mind. Maxing out on the Phoenix and its search card, Hand of Nephthys, as well as Crystal Seer and Apprentice Magician means the Phoenix deck has loads of early-game plays. It’s easy to picture flipping Crystal Seer, strengthening your hand, and dropping Hand of Nephthys to search out Sacred Phoenix. It seems frighteningly simple for such a strong combo.

Have you seen some of the other preview cards yet? If not, take a look at the previews for Gemini Summoner and Frost and Flame Dragon. Both are great cards on their own, and are just begging for brilliant duelists to expose their strengths. The combination between Frost and Flame Dragon and today’s preview card is pretty obvious. Crystal Seer will allow you to search out the Dragons much faster, ensuring that you’re not playing a bunch of Fire and Water monsters without the proper pay off, while also doubling up as fodder for removal by these very monsters.

Gemini Summoner and Crystal Seer make perfect sense for a Gemini deck. Seer can set up the combos for the Summoner, ensuring that he has enough Gemini monsters in hand to summon. Since the Gemini deck can also go off with Gemini Summoner and Chthonian Emperor Dragon, Crystal Seer can help set up the OTK by quickly finding any missing pieces. Perhaps the coolest thing is that both monsters bear the Water attribute and no more than 1500 ATK, which means you can throw Salvage, Mother Grizzly, and Treeborn Frog in the deck with confidence.

In fact, why not play all those cards in a standard Monarch deck? Mother Grizzly and Treeborn Frog are already good decisions, and Crystal Seer is sure to make an appearance, with or without Apprentice Magician. Gemini Summoner walks all over cards like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Card Trooper, and Salvage lets you do it all again! Just like that, we’ve got tons of possibilities with Water monsters and Water support, and it’s all because of Crystal Seer!

Whether you’re a regular on the Shonen Jump Championship circuit and looking for the newest hot tech, or a casual duelist trying to redefine the local metagame with some blow-out decks, Crystal Seer is the card for you. As soon as it becomes legal for tournament play, I’d expect to see it everywhere. Between Spellcaster, Water, Monarch, and Frost and Flame Dragon decks, you can expect Crystal Seer to take center stage for the next format. OTK decks that lack specific search cards will look to increase their speed with it, and even decks that have no support for it at all will probably play at least one copy for the same reason. This card will be big.