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Elliot "Gale" Gaylord	The bane of my existence and the source of much anguish for the English format these past few months, Spectral Duke Dragon is a powerful card in a powerful deck, and it's only just now starting to see hard counters - the bulky Vanguards from Awakening of Twin Blades. In fact, due to their prevalence, Duke is significantly less favorable than it used to be, with a more traditional Ezel/Garmore deck taking the helm as the standard. I can only be glad about this.  A Standing Vanguard is always scary, not only due to the threat of more damage, but also because of the additional drive checks it yields, closing (more likely furthering) the gap in card advantage between both players. Duke's cost is fairly cheap, too - 3 rear-guards that already served their purpose that round, and 2 counterblasts that few or no other cards in the deck use. The nature of the cost even lets you field some less-than-stellar stuff since none of it will be able to bog you down in the long run, and your first pass at the ability is mitigated more or less in full if the ride chain went off without a hitch. You can expect this to be the case in around a third of your games. Duke doesn't need to hit, either, so any triggers placed on him are less of a gamble and more of an investment, with a minor possibility of being able to win on the spot. There's always another shot at the ability to seal the game, too  But does it have workarounds for Majesty Lord Blaster and Dragonic Overlord the End? The answer is yes, but not many. Laudine, Blessing Owl, and even Flame of Victory can allow Duke to temporarily reach the 13K solo threshold, making your intent to stand just as effective against them as it is against any other deck. These answers have to appear at an appropriate time, however, and aren't all that powerful themselves, so I wouldn't call them ideal.  All the same, Duke has proven effective in less tanky environments. While he may not be the best choice now, his relevance can only increase as card pool additions and potential adjustments to restrictions occur. 4/5
WarLycan36 Go Rogue, Go Pro YouTube Page	What's up, you guys?!  Another Monday, another start of COTD's!  Today, we have...   Spectral Duke Dragon Power: 10000 Grade 3 Clan: Gold Paladin Race: Abyss Dragon [AUTO](VC) Limit Break 4 (This ability is active if you have four or more damage):[Counter Blast (2) & Choose three of your «Gold Paladin» rear-guards, and retire them] At the beginning of the close step of the battle that this unit attacked a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, [Stand] this unit, and this unit loses "Twin Drive!!" until end of turn. [CONT](VC):If you have a card named "Black Dragon Knight, Vortimer" in your soul, this unit gets [Power]+1000.            Ever since the debut of Set 5 and the "Big 3" (Dragonic Overlord The End, Majesty Lord Blaster and Phantom Blaster Overlord), people have been wondering if the world champion's avatar was still noteworthy.  I was one of them as the Crossride capabilities of The End and Phantom Blaster Overlord would probably add extra pressure to non-Crossride decks like Spectral Duke Dragon here.  Personally, if the Big 3 are supposed to always be the end all be all of tournament decks, then Spectral Duke Dragon is definitely number four.  Personally, I think he should be part of the trio and just call them the Elite 4! Spectral Duke Dragon and it’s Ride Chain is probably the best one in the entire game as each time you would successfully ride to the next part, you essentially get 2 more units for the price of 1 which ultimately gives you 3 units to pull off Spectral Duke Dragon’s Limit Break which would either sap out the rest of your opponent’s shields in hand or even make the finishing blow.  Spectral Duke Dragon was Brandon Smith’s main avatar of choice for an excellent reason.  That and if you do succeed in the chain, he becomes 11,000 which is considered to be the norm nowadays.   Overall, Spectral Duke Dragon, while despised by me personally for it’s constant pressure and easy way to gain advantages, is still an excellent card and very underestimated.   Rating: 4/5   Next time: Why do you look so…Blau???   Go Rogue, Go Pro!!!
Destiny Heroic	DestinyHeroic Spectral Duke Dragon Today, we look at one of the units that was most likely part of the Shadow Paladin clan before enlisting in the Gold Paladins. Spectral Duke Dragon (SDD) is the final evolution of the first, and thus far only ride chain available for Gold Paladins. SDD boasts one of the meaner stand-the-vanguard skills in the game, able to stand whether its attack hits or not. The skill is balanced by it being a limit break, and having a pretty steep cost; counterblast 2, retire 3 rear guards, and lose twin drive for the turn. The counterblast is pretty standard for a limit break, and the loss of twin drive is something you often see with stand-the-vanguard skills. Retiring 3 rear guards can be really expensive for a cost, but if you consider that the ride chain, if successful, nets you 2 to 3 free cards (the search at grade 1, and the superior calling at grades 2 and 3), you are really just breaking even with the first use of the skill. You can use the abilities of cards like Player of the Holy Bow Viviane to mitigate that cost even further. Pair this guy with a potentially 11k body, and an opponent with only 3 or 4 cards in hand, and you apply the kind of late game pressure that wins games. Rating: 3/5 – If you miss the ride chain, he is a 10k with a very expensive skill.