The Six Samurai

The Six Samurai, known as the Six Warmen (六武衆) in Japanese, are a series of Warrior-type monsters that debuted in Strike of Neos, with further support included in Gladiator's Assault. Their names include "The Six Samurai" or "Shien". They rely on having multiple Six Samurai on the field to use their effects, and as such a Deck revolving around them is often based on swarming the field.

The "Six Samurai" monsters consist of the original six, as well as their allies and masters. "Shien" cards are supported by this theme, "Great Shogun Shien" seeming to be the warlord they serve. The overall theme seems to be futuristic, while in some form drawing inspiration from feudal Japan.

The basic Six Samurai monsters (the initial '6') all have the effect "If this card would be destroyed you can destroy another "Six Samurai" monster you control instead" and also "While you control another "Six Samurai" monster with a different name, this card can... " meaning that their effects only activate when another "Six Samurai" monster is on the field.

In the upcoming set Storm of Ragnarok, a new True Six Samurai sub-archetype will come out, providing further support for the original six, as well as their new counterparts.

Strengths
Six Samurai tend to be flexible enough to respond to most situations. Most of their support cards help prevent them from being destroyed or allow Six Samurai monsters to be re-used, such as "Cunning of the Six Samurai", "Backs to the Wall", "Return of the Six Samurai" and "Double-Edged Sword Technique". They also have strong draw support with "Six Samurai United" and "Spirit of the Six Samurai". The more powerful monsters in the Archetype (such as "Grandmaster of the Six Samurai", "Enishi, Shien's Chancellor" and "Great Shogun Shien") are usually summoned from the hand using their own effects rather than tributing monsters in order to summon them.

Most Six Samurai monster effects revolve around destroying your opponent's cards on the field, either in battle or by not attacking. Since these effects have no other cost, their user can easily maintain field advantage. Six Samurai monster's destruction effects make them especially useful against opponents who play defensively or use stall tactics.

Six Samurai cards are very easily searched out inside the deck. This means that their user can easily respond to any situations adding which Six Samurai he needs in his hand.The Six Samurai benefit of the following cards: "Shien's Footsoldier" can search out level 3 and lower Six Samurai monsters, and Gateway of the Six can add a Six Samurai from the deck or graveyard to your hand, while "Spirit of the Six Samurai" and "Six Samurai United" help by allowing multiple draws per turn.

The Six Samurai can be very good at swarming if you start with the right hand. You can get three or even more monsters on the field in one turn by summoning a Six Samurai then Special Summoning "Grandmaster of the Six Samurai", followed by "Great Shogun Shien" and repeating the process. They are also quite versatile when it comes to Monster, Spell and Trap Card destruction. With these effects, Six Samurai monsters can help the player maintain Field Advantage. Most of them have an effect where, if one would be destroyed, they can send another Six Samurai to the Graveyard instead. All Level 5 or higher cards in a Six Samurai deck can be Special Summoned by their own effect(s).

They are also able to take advantage of standard Warrior support cards, such as "Reinforcement of the Army" and "The Warrior Returning Alive", in addition to their own support cards. "Reasoning", "Reckless Greed", "My Body as a Shield" and "Solemn Judgment" also work extremely well with a Six Samurai deck. Also, with the release of "Solidarity", the Six Samurai can take advantage of the fact that they are all Warriors to gain ATK.

Weaknesses
Six Samurai are at their weakest against opponents capable of either swarming the field faster than they can, or using card effects that negate special summons (though many decks in the current metagame have this problem). They are also particularly vulnerable to cards that clear monsters out en masse, like "Lightning Vortex", "Torrential Tribute", "Dark Hole" and "Black Rose Dragon". Cards like "My Body as a Shield", "Solemn Judgment", "Starlight Road" and "Dark Bribe" help to alleviate this problem.

The Six Samurai's swarming capabilities and effects are easily crippled with cards like Gozen Match, which limits the attributes of monsters both players can control to 1 each, although this problem can be alleviated by using any of the widely available cards that remove/negate trap cards, such as Royal Decree or Dust Tornado. Quite ironically, (or appropriately), Gozen Match features Enishi, Shien's Chancellor, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and Great Shogun Shien in the card picture.

The Six Samurai can sometimes have a problem with consistency. If the player doesn't start off with a good hand, he or she will often run into problems mid-to-late game. They are also very vulnerable to mass destruction because they are unable to shield themselves when all of them would be destroyed via a card effect. This problem, however, can be alleviated when dealing with certain mass destruction cards (such as "Mirror Force") by switching one or more Six Samurai into defense mode. Since "Mirror Force" only destroys attack position monsters, your Six Samurai monsters being destroyed can use the ones in defense mode to "negate" their destruction. Cards like "Ready for Intercepting" are good for this kind of situation as they can help you keep vital Six Samurai monsters on your field. Also, using "Dark Bribe" can help stop your opponent's destruction cards at the right times.

They are also quite vulnerable when on the field by themselves. The commitment of multiple Samurai to the field can also drain the hand quickly, although the release of "Six Samurai United" and "Spirit of the Six Samurai" have helped to alleviate this problem. And the release of "Solidarity" has helped strengthen them while they are on the field alone.

They also can have a weakness to any deck that can outswarm them, like Blackwings which are one of the most popular decks. They also have a weakness versus Anti-Meta, which runs heavily to negate Special Summons. "Double Summon" and "Ultimate Offering" are good cards to deal with this problem since they can help you swarm the field while bypassing any negation of Special Summons.

Using "Reload", "Magical Mallet", or even "Card Destruction" can help you get rid of a useless hand and draw more Six Samurai monsters. The latter also allows you to regain a fresh new hand, destroy an opponents hand, and put Six Samurai in the graveyard in order to revive them with "Cunning of the Six Samurai" or the other various Six Samurai revival cards, or to use them to Special Summon "Enishi, Shien's Chancellor". "Swords of Revealing Light" can also be used to help you stall until you get more powerful or more useful Six Samurai cards and it gives you the opportunity to swarm the field without fear of an opponent's attack. The release of Gateway of the Six has also allowed you to add monsters into your hand, making your Spells and Traps easier to reach.

The Six Samurai have suffered greatly from the last couple of banlists. "Reinforcement of the Army's" Limiting hurt the deck's consistency. The Six Samurai deck is still playable, but has to rely more heavily on a good starting hand and better deck construction. This makes competitive playability difficult, but still possible if the deck is put together correctly. However the deck has support for this problem, the insane amount of card acceleration from "Spirit of the Six Samurai" and "Six Samurai United". Sure, you don't get the specific card's you want, but the amount of cards you draw simply gives you a chance to draw what you need or want. Gateway of the Six has become their own version of "Reinforcement of the Army", though, since it allows you to search through your deck for a Six Samurai.

Six Samurai Optional Support Cards

 * Double Summon and Ultimate Offering : Six Samurai cards are useless on the field alone, so using cards like these to get as many out of your hand onto the field at once is highly recommended. When combined with "The A. Forces" this will also dramatically strengthen each of the monsters you summon.


 * Rivalry of Warlords is an excellent way to cripple your opponent. Since all Six Samurai monsters are Warrior type you can use this card to stop your opponent from summoning more diverse Monster Cards while you can summon any six samurai monster you want.


 * Solidarity greatly boosts the strength of all your Six Samurai monsters since the monsters in the deck should be entirely warrior monsters.


 * Reinforcement of the Army allows you to add any any of the primary Six Samurai to your hand--this will allow you to adjust your strategy on the fly to whatever the opponent tries.


 * Reasoning lost some strength because of the current limitation, but is still usable and still works wonders for this deck. Reasoning is a commonly used card in Six Samurai, as Six Samurai's feature many different levels, leading to many combos.

Elemental Samurai
Since each of the Six Samurai possess one of the attributes (Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Light, Dark), They can be used in conjunction with certain cards that take advantage of having many attributes. Cards like "Elemental Absorber", "Elemental Burst", and "Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan"; which benefit from having multiple attributes on the field, can be used to either stall the opponent or wipe out their field. "Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan" helps to increase the draw power of this deck, but has specific destruction targets (Monsters, Spell/Trap, Hand) whereas "Elemental Burst" completely destroys everything on the opponents field. Also, Since this deck possesses every attribute, you can virtually control the field with "Elemental Absorber", however this reduces your hand further and makes the Six Samurai you remove from play useless without cards like "Burial from a Different Dimension" or "Necroface". It works well against single attribute decks like Blackwings and Lightsworns and can completely stop your opponent's attacks while only giving up one Six Samurai. Combining "Elemental Absorber" with "DNA Transplant' however will only require you to discard one Six Samurai and will completely stop your opponent from attacking. Due to the necessity and the ability to swarm with The Six Samurai, these elemental cards can be easier to use and can alleviate most of The Six Samurai's weaknesses while devastating the opponent at the same time.

Trivia
The basic Six Samurai monsters (the initial '6') artwork features each of them holding a weapon which refers to their effects.

Each Six Samurai has a different attribute, and those with polar attributes have opposite effects. Yaichi's opposite is Kamon, Nisashi's is Yariza, and Irou's is Zanji. Yaichi destroys face-down spell/trap cards, and Kamon destroys face-up spell/trap cards. Nisashi can attack twice and potentially destroy multiple monsters, and Yariza bypasses monsters entirely to attack directly. Irou can take down monsters with his effect before they become a threat, and Zanji can be take out an already opposing threat with his effect.

Most card artworks featuring the Six Samurai and their supporting cards contain a heraldic crest/coat of arms(紋章 - monshō or 家紋 - kamon) representing the Six Samurai. The crest is composed of a bolded outer-circle and an inner-circle. The inner-circle contains six smaller dotted circles which are connected to each other (in a specific path) and 6 other irregular shapes that are likely to represent the initial Six Samurai. To date, the only Six Samurai related cards that do not feature the Six Samurai crest are "Great Shogun Shien", "Shien's Footsoldier" and "Shien's Castle of Mist".

The name of the archetype may be derived from the 1954 Japanese film, "Seven Samurai," by Akira Kurosawa.

Monsters

 * Card Trooper
 * Morphing Jar
 * Rose, Warrior of Revenge
 * Torapart

Spells

 * My Body as a Shield
 * Reasoning
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Solidarity
 * Swords of Revealing Light
 * The A. Forces
 * The Warrior Returning Alive

Traps

 * Fuh-Rin-Ka-Zan
 * Starlight Road

Extra Deck

 * Colossal Fighter
 * Goyo Guardian