The Six Samurai

The Six Samurai (六武衆) 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.

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.

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.

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 and Black Rose Dragon. Cards like "My Body as a Shield", "Solemn Judgement", 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

Six Samurai cards tend to have trouble being searched out inside the deck. In order to make up for this flaw, Shien's Footsoldier can search out level 3 and lower Six Samurai monsters, and Spirit of the Six Samurai and Six Samurai United help by allowing multiple draws per turn.

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.


 * Inferno Reckless Summon is an excellent way to summon more Six Samurai monsters to the field like Ultimate Offering and Double Summon

Combos
Using "Book of Moon" with "The Six Samurai - Irou" can allow a player to destroy an opponent's troublesome monster with relative ease. Another combo is to equip "The Six Samurai - Zanji" with "Mist Body", allowing him to attack and destroy powerful monsters with his effect without being destroyed by battle.

Monsters

 * Grandmaster of the Six Samurai x3
 * Great Shogun Shien x2
 * The Six Samurai - Yaichix2
 * The Six Samurai - Zanji x3
 * The Six Samurai - Irou x2
 * Spirit of the Six Samuraix2
 * The Six Samurai - Nisashix1
 * The Six Samurai - Kamon x1
 * Hand of the Six Samurai x2
 * Enishi, Shien's Chancellor x1
 * Total Defense Shogun

Spells

 * Six Samurai Unitedx3
 * Reinforcements of the Army
 * Brain Control
 * Reasoning
 * The Warrior Returning Alivex2
 * Solidarity
 * Cunning of the Six Samurai

Traps

 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Double-Edged Sword Technique
 * Solemn Judgement
 * Dark Bribe
 * Double-Edged Sword Technique
 * Swiftstrike Armor
 * Swift Samurai Storm!times 3
 * Backs to the Wall
 * Breakthrough!
 * Mirror Force

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.

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