Fifty five cards of the week. We'll be looking at a nifty little card that people have been using in moderately casual decks in Japan recently, called the Abyss Soldier.

As a bit of a note, this card comes in the Capsule Monster Coliseum PlayStation 2 game. But it ALSO comes in the CMC strategy guide (which is the one that I have). I'm not sure of the rarity in the PlayStation game, but the book version is Secret Rare. The thing is, it states that the card is supposed to be PARALLEL rare on the guide cover. So, I don't really know what's up with that.

Abyss Soldier has nice stats for a level four Monster, not to mention being able to be searched by the Witch (for the time being).

I know I sound like a broken record, but it's the effect that causes the most commotion. By discarding a Water Main-Type Monster from your hand, you can return any card on the Field to its owner's hand -- which means Monster OR Magic/Trap cards.

Usually, you will want to discard a Killer Snake to feed its ability, but the deck type that this card also is placed in also has a bearing on what you can chuck to your Cemetery. First off, you may be thinking that it goes in a Water deck, and that is probably one of the best places for it, with all of the Water cards to discard. Abyss Soldier is also best abused in a Bounce deck, with Hyper Hammer Heads, Jujutsu Artists, Penguin Soldiers, forced Ejection Machines and the new card, Spin!. While that deck type doesn't have the additional Water Monster (aside from Snake and Penguin) to discard, once you get An Abyss Soldier to the Field and have a Snake to power it, other Water Monsters aren't really needed.

Combating the Soldier isn't terribly difficult, but can be harrowing if you aren't using any technical cards and concentrate mainly on attacking. The best way is direct removal, by a destruction card like Welcome For The Dead.

Edo's Rating: 3 out of 5. I was aiming more for the 4 side of the spectrum, but at closer look, Abyss Soldier takes a good deal of setup before it can be used quite well. If Water decks are your fare, Abyss Soldier will find you loving it quite well in that deck. The aforementioned Bounce deck will also exploit the abilities of Abyss Soldier. Overall, it's a nice card.