Hey everybody, it's Clay Combs once again! This time, I’m going to address the two cards that we love to hate; Rescue Rabbit and Tour Guide(or at least I do anyways)! With both cards easily selling for in the mid to upper $100 range, it’s easy to say that they are making Yugioh way too expensive for cheap, yet competitive players. Today, I’m going to go over these cards, the benefits of using them, ways to counter them, how to modify your extra deck according to them, and how a cheap player(as I am) can get around using them to be competitive.

First, let’s look at Rescue Rabbit. It lets you bring two vanilla beaters to the field, allowing for an XYZ summon of any 4 rank. Most people choose Evolzar Laggia, or Evolzar Dolkka, as they have Solemn Warning or Divine Wrath attached to them, respectively, and are both 2500 beaters. Great cards, huh?

Well, if you’re not a meta player that’s wanting to take on the burden of purchasing three Rescue Rabbits, let’s look at how to counter these Evolzar’s. The first card I must mention is Solemn Warning, and I cannot stress this single card enough! 2000 LP is a small price to pay to get rid of an opponents Laggia/Dolkka. How you negate the summon, however, is your choice. For instance, you may want to wait for the summoning of the XYZ monster to negate it, as it will reduce the amount of Laggias/Dolkkas you must face. Or, you may immediately negate the summon of Rescue Rabbit, leaving your opponent with two seemingly dead draws into normal monsters.  Though your opponent can use these monsters for attacking, or a potential XYZ, they are not comparable draws to many other cards a Rescue Rabbit deck will run. Either way, it’s a crippling blow to the opponent.

Another card that is extremely underrated in today’s game is Divine Wrath. Divine Wrath lets you immediately negate and destroy an opponent’s monster upon effect activation. This takes out Dolkka/Laggia and cannot be negated by Laggia, as it is a spell speed three(counter trap). This is an awesome card to side deck, and I truly wish more people were using it. At the cost of one discard, it's an amazing counter.

Now, this is my favorite counter for Rescue Rabbit. It isn’t a popular card, though it addresses both Rescue Rabbit and Tour Guide. Mirror of Oaths is a normal trap, that destroys any monsters your opponent special summons from the deck, and doubles as a jar of greed. I was not aware of this card until a few days ago, when a friend informed me of it. This immediately kills both of the Rescue Rabbit’s normal monsters, or Tour Guide’s special summoned fiend, AND allows you to draw. Pretty awesome, huh? The only drawback is that your opponent may have summoned Sangan, though you have still successfully negated Leviair/Leviathan for a turn, and you can draw. If your deck has trouble dealing with either of these cards, then I would highly suggest throwing a few copies of this into your side deck. For 18 cents, you can’t get a better anti-meta card.

Finally, I’m going to address the advantages of Rescue Rabbit. Honestly, if it wasn’t such an awesome card, I wouldn’t be creating this article, would I? With the advantage of an immediate four rank XYZ monster, it can’t get much better. Whether you’re running Evolzar’s, or would prefer to take a chaos approach with Alexandrite Dragons(2000 Attack, vanilla four stars), it can help make almost any deck competitive, if it is used properly and conservatively. The only disadvantage is drawing into normal monsters. If you have the spare money, there is no more consistent deck in the meta. With over half of the last YCS decks being Dino Rabbits, Rescue Rabbit has definitely proven itself.

Now, I’ll address Tour Guide. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Tour Guide, since it’s such a chaos staple, and doubles as an instant XYZ. I will not condemn use of it, however, as you almost have to be a fool not to(unless budget constraints are in the way, I totally understand).  With Tour Guide in 14 of the top 16 decks at the last YCS, how can it not be viewed as one of the best cards in the game? The only two decks not running Tour Guide were a chain burn, and a water synchro deck(hats off to them, I love nothing better than seeing decks like this top).

First, let’s address what Tour Guide does; bring another 3 star fiend to the field. Once again, I cannot stress Solemn Warning enough. It immediately takes out this pesky Tour Guide, or can take out their Leviair/Leviathan. Yet again, 2000 Life Points is definitely worth the price to eliminate the threat.

I feel like I am repeating myself, but Divine Wrath is once again, an awesome card for the situation. At a small cost, it will immediately eliminate any threat Tour Guide/Leviair/Leviathan or even Wind-Up Zenmaines has provided.  Personally, I now run two copies of this in my side, just for the occasion.

And finally, Mirror of Oaths is once again compatible with Tour Guide. Destroys Tour Guide/Sangan(in my speculation, Sangan will be banned next format, at least I hope), and draw a card. Enough said.

Let’s view the benefits of running Tour Guide. It helps mil the deck, is a dark fiend, brings out an immediate three rank XYZ, and can bring a Sangan to the field(preferably to fetch out another Tour Guide, but whatever suits your needs). If you are running any chaos variant, this card is a MUST. Though it runs about $550 for a set, it is almost necessary to keep your deck completive. Personally, I hate that a card must be so expensive, but with its effect, it is almost justifiable.

Well, that about covers it for my article on Rescue Rabbit and Tour Guide. If you’re running these cards, good luck, and if not, even more luck to you! Make sure you review, and run different options with your extra deck(and main deck), seeing which combinations work best against these two meta cards. Until next time everyone, and have a happy holidays!