Yes, I’m really back. School got a tad boring, so I decided to break out of retirement from Duel Masters for a week. Let’s take a look at one of the cool new creatures from Fatal Brood:

Cavern Raider

Type: Creature

Civilization: Nature

Race: Beast Folk

Mana Cost: Three (3)

Rules Text:

• Whenever this creature is attacking your opponent and isn't blocked, search your deck. You may take a creature from your deck, show that creature to your opponent, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your deck.

Flavor Text:

"My guidance counselor always told me I should be an action hero. She was right!"

Power: 2000

Rarity: Common

Set: Fatal Brood of Infinite Ruin

Power/Cost: Pretty solid stuff here. Three mana for 2k attack has been proven to work well already through staples like Aqua Hulcus and Horrid Worm. Now Cavern Raider boasts the same winning formula, with an efficient cost and enough power to hold his ground. One obvious downside is his vulnerability to Fire’s kill spells, but for just three mana you shouldn’t need him to stick around forever.

Civilization/Race: The race attribute has recently become more important with the release of Fatal Brood, namely due to a card called Petrova (reviewed Friday). With that said, Cavern Raiders hails from perhaps the best clan in all of Duel Masters: Good old Beastfolk. They include fifteen additional creatures ranging in cost from two to four, as well as three awesome evolutions. Bronze-Arm Tribe, Quixotic Hero, and Barkwhip are some of the best. Make sure you take advantage of Cavern Raider’s great supporting cast.

Effects: Now there is certainly a difference between good abilities on paper and good abilities in reality, so weigh my words carefully as I haven’t actually used Cavern Raider. However, his effect does appear to be both practical and extremely useful in my opinion. Every time Cavern Raider successfully attacks a shield, you get to add any creature from deck to hand. This more than evens out the card advantage your opponent would have received from the broken shield. So ideally you want to get out Cavern Raider early and start swinging ASAP. Then back him up with the likes of Corile, Merfolk, Locomotiver, etc. Worst case scenario you hit a bad trigger the first time or your opponent fries Cavern Raider with a spell.

Limited: 4.75/5

Small weenies with good abilities own in draft, and Cavern Raider fits the bill perfectly. Use him without a doubt unless the rest of you Nature picks suck. You won’t regret having a few copies decked.

Constructed: 4.25/5

Cavern Raiders has great potential in regular play, but only time will tell if joins the ranks of the elite. Try him out in decks like the Continental winner's (Blue/Green beatdown) or any other swarm/aggro concept. Good luck!

Steven Cantrell

Team Galactic Quest

Smcman7@aol.com