Tuner monster

Tuner monsters (Japanese: チューナー Chūnā "Tuner") are monsters with the ability "Tuner". They are required for the Synchro Summon of a Synchro Monster. Normal, Effect, and Syncho Monsters can all be Tuner monsters, although some card effects can treat other monsters as Tuners.

To perform a Synchro Summon, if the total Level of the Tuner monster and the other monsters on your side of the field matches the Synchro Monster's Level, by sending them to the Graveyard, you can Summon the Synchro Monster.

"Tuner" is the first and only ability that Normal Monsters can have, debuting in Starter Deck 2008.

Tuner monsters are often low in Level, usually ranging from Level 1 to 3; there are rarer Tuner monsters that are Level 4, and currently a few that are Level 5, three Level 6 ("Blackwing - Kogarashi the Wanderer", "Labradorite Dragon" and "Genomix Fighter"), one Level 7 ("Emissary from Pandemonium"), and one Level 8 ("Life Stream Dragon") Tuner monsters.

There are a few support cards that specifically deal with Tuner monsters, including "Mind Trust", "Boost Warrior" and "Quillbolt Hedgehog", which further aid in setting up a Synchro Summon.

Many Tuner monsters have effects that assist in performing a Synchro Summon, either by Special Summoning another monster ("Deep-Sea Diva", "Masked Chameleon"), Special Summoning themselves when a condition is met ("Lady of the Lake", "Fishborg Archer") or managing the Level, Type or Attribute of other monsters ("Delta Flyer", "Genomix Fighter", "Genex Ally Chemistrer"). "Phantom King Hydride" can even become a non-Tuner monster for a Synchro Summon.

Some Synchro Monsters require a specific Tuner monster to be Summoned ("Sun Dragon Inti"), or a Tuner of a specific Type ("Trident Dragion"), Attribute ("Chaos Goddess") or archetype ("Thor, Lord of the Aesir"). Likewise, some Tuners can be used only for the Summon of specific Synchro Monsters *("Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit", "Mystic Macrocarpa Seed", "Scrap Soldier").

There are also Tuner Synchro Monsters. They tend to make Synchro Summoning easier, either by manipulating their own level ("Wave-Motion Phonon Dragon"), by allowing its controller to perform a Synchro Summon during the opponent's turn, or even to implicitly indicate that it have to be used as a Synchro Material monster (the effect of "Puralis, the Purple Pyrotile" is triggered when it is used to perform a Synchro Summon). They are also required for Accel Synchro Monsters, such as "Shooting Star Dragon".

Tuner monsters, as implied by their name, have ties to sound. As such, most support cards have references to music and wavelengths (such as "Frequency Magician").

Trivia

 * There is currently no Rock-Type Tuner Monsters.