When you think of Spellcaster Pendulum Monsters, you may think of Pendulum Magicians which are tearing up competitive play at the moment, or the Majespecters, which were mainstays of Regional Qualifiers and YCS’s two years ago. Extreme Force gives us another addition to the family of Spellcaster Pendulum Monsters with a bit of old-school flavor mixed in. Meet the Mythical Beasts!

… well, actually, the newest Mythical Beasts. Those of us who have been playing the game for a while may already be familiar with Mythical Beast Cerberus, a Level 4 Effect Monster that was introduced to the TCG all the way back in 2006! Cerberus gains Spell Counters whenever a Spell Card resolves, and it gains 500 ATK for each Spell Counter on it. If it attacks, Cerberus loses all of its Spell Counters at the end of the Battle Phase.

The original Cerberus can grow in strength very quickly, but the Level 8 Mythical Beast Master Cerberus already starts out as a huge threat! Master Cerberus starts at 2800 ATK and gains two Spell Counters every time a Spell Card resolves. If you have 4 Spell Counters anywhere on your field, Master Cerberus can’t be destroyed by card effects, and one per turn you can remove 4 Spell Counters from anywhere on your field to banish an opponent’s monster and gain ATK equal to that monster’s until the end of your opponent’s turn. Master Cerberus can end the game right then and there by clearing your opponent’s biggest monster then attacking with huge-ATK Master Cerberus! Its Pendulum Effect lets you destroy itself to add any Level 7 or lower Mythical Beast from your Deck to hand. If you can’t Summon Master Cerberus, this effect let’s you further your strategy along with other options, like Mythical Beast Jackal King!

Mythical Beast Jackal King also gains 2 Spell Counters whenever a Spell Counter resolves. Jackal King’s monster effect is one that will force the opponent into some awkward choices, as Jackal King can remove 2 Spell Counters from anywhere on your field to negate an opponent’s activated monster effect and destroy it. Jackal King’s Pendulum Effect let’s you destroy itself to Special Summon any face-up Mythical Beast from your Extra Deck except for Jackal King. Looking at Mythical Beast Master Cerberus, you can use Master Cerberus’s Pendulum Effect to destroy itself to get Mythical Beast Jackal King, then use Jackal King’s Pendulum effect to Special Summon Master Cerberus!

Just in case that wasn’t enough, Mythical Bestiary is a Quick-Play Spell Card that let’s you add 2 Spell Counters to a card that can hold them at the cost of sending the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. If your opponent happens to destroy this card with one of their card effects, you can Special Summon a monster from your Deck that can hold a Spell Counter and put up to two Spell Counters on it. This obviously fits in a Mythical Beast Deck, but there have been so many monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG that interact with Spell Counters, you can probably find something worth bringing out with Mythical Bestiary’s effect!

Finally, if your opponent isn’t helping you accumulate Spell Counters by not activating Spells, they may be activating Monster Effects instead. If that’s the case, you’ll want to punish them with the Continuous Trap Card Mythical Bestiamorph! This card gains a Spell Counter each time an opponent’s Monster Effect resolves. If it has 6 or more Spell Counters on it, you can send Mythical Bestiamorph to the Graveyard to add any Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. The ability to add any Spell Card from Deck to hand is one that’s not often seen on card effects, so seeing something so versatile is definitely worth a look. Adding Raigeki, Cosmic Cyclone or Pot of Desires from Deck to hand just from your opponent activating 6 monster effects is definitely something you don’t want to pass up. You can even use Mythical Bestiary to add Spell Counters to Bestiamorph and make it even easier to get the Spell Card of your choice!

The Mythical Beasts enter the fray with the release of Extreme Force, in stores February 2nd!